ASEAN nations' defence ministers will meet in Singapore from Monday, Feb. 5 to attend the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) Retreat and also witness the ongoing Singapore Airshow 2018 being organised by Experia Events.
All the defence ministers and senior defence officials from the 10 member states, besides the secretary-general of ASEAN, Singapore's Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) will attend the Retreat, said a statement on Saturday.
ASEAN is keen to enhance cooperation in the areas of counter-terrorism and transnational crime, disaster relief, maritime security, non-proliferation and disarmament and cyber security.
The ASEAN defence strategy is focusing on practical cooperation and strategic dialogue, specifically in the areas of maritime security, peacekeeping operations, military medicine, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), counterterrorism, and humanitarian mine action.
The launch of the ASEAN Centre of Military Medicine (ACMM) in Bangkok in April 2016 to facilitate ASEAN's capacity and ability to respond to HADR situations in the region in another measure in this direction. Singapore had pro-actively dispatched its soldiers to help the Philippines in its fight against domestic terrorism last year.
Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen will be the official host of the ASEAN defence ministers' Retreat. Even the Chinese Minister of National Defense General Chang Wanquan will be in Singapore for his introductory visit from Feb 4 to 8, coinciding the Retreat.
Later, the all the defence ministers will call on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who will host a lunch for them at the Singapore Airshow. Singapore is the chairman of ASEAN this year and hence hosting the ADMM.
The ADMM-Plus, which includes the United States, China and Japan will meet in October. ADMM was set up in 2006 and Singapore is hosting the meet for the second time now. Besides the 10 Asean countries, eight others: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States are members.
The ASEAN had its 25th Meeting of the ASEAN-EU Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) on Tuesday, 30 January 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia, marking the 40th Anniversary of the ASEAN-EU Dialogue Relations, culminating in the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, participated in the East Asia Summit as Guest of the Philippine Chair in Manila on 14 November 2017.
