Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen attended the 10th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus^[1] in Jakarta, Indonesia, today.

During the meeting, Dr Ng and his counterparts exchanged views on the international and regional security environment. In his remarks, Dr Ng stressed the importance of upholding the rules-based order to maintain peace and stability in the region, the value of the ADMM-Plus in confidence-building and conflict prevention, and the importance of addressing new and emerging challenges, such as climate change. The meeting also adopted the ADMM-Plus Joint Statement on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) which reaffirms the ADMM-Plus' commitment to fully implement the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on WPS as well as advance the WPS agenda within the respective work plans of the ADMM-Plus Experts' Working Groups starting with the 2024 to 2027 cycle.

Speaking after the meeting, Dr Ng emphasised that the ADMM and the ADMM-Plus are important platforms for ASEAN and its Plus partners to discuss pressing regional security issues. Dr Ng said that participants "did not seek to sweep troubled spots under the carpet as if they did not exist" but were instead given a platform to air their differences, talk about them and "make progress in these difficult issues".

Dr Ng also reaffirmed Singapore's commitment to defence cooperation on the ADMM and ADMM-Plus as well as to work through the platforms to "build up buffers, which, if not to prevent incidents or accidents from happening, make sure that there is de-escalation and conflict resolution".

The 17th ADMM and the 10th ADMM-Plus concluded with the handing over of the ADMM and ADMM-Plus Chairmanship from Indonesia to Laos. The ADMM and the ADMM-Plus are key pillars of the regional security architecture and have contributed to regional peace and security by fostering trust and sustained practical cooperation among its 18 member countries.

[1]ADMM-Plus comprises the 10 ASEAN Member States and its eight Plus partners, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia, and the United States.