MR TEO ATTENDS REGIONAL DEFENCE FORUM; REAFFIRMS IMPORTANCE OF ADMM-PLUS

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean attended the Putrajaya Forum, a defence and security forum, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 13 Oct 2010.

At the forum s opening dinner, Mr Teo shared his thoughts on the newly-minted ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) in a panel discussion. He said: "The ADMM-Plus is a key component of the regional security architecture. It will lay the foundation for mutual understanding, trust and cooperation in our region."

The Putrajaya Forum is organised by the Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security and will be held from 13 to 15 Oct 2010. Participants of the forum, which was themed Emerging Regional Security Architecture, included Defence Ministers such as Brunei's Deputy Minister of Defence Dato Paduka Haji Mustappa bin Haji Sirat, Malaysia s Minister of Defence Dato Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi and the Philippines Secretary of National Defence Voltaire Gazmin, officials and academics from the region.

Mr Teo also noted that it had been a great achievement for ASEAN to establish the ADMM-Plus and that the ADMM-Plus meeting, held in Vietnam on 12 Oct 2010, had affirmed the central role of ASEAN in the regional security architecture. He cited ASEAN s open and consultative approach to building trust and confidence among the ADMM-Plus member states as one of they key reasons for this achievement.

The "Plus" countries comprise eight non-ASEAN countries - Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.

At the ADMM-Plus meeting, the "Plus" countries were represented by their Defence Ministers, except for Russia which was represented by its First Deputy Defence Minister. This in itself, said Mr Teo, was a testament to the importance that the "Plus" countries placed in the ADMM-Plus framework.

He added at the forum that the ADMM-Plus was not all talk and no action and emphasised that there would be practical co-operation in counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, maritime security, military medicine and peacekeeping operations.