Second ADMM-Plus Experts' Working Group (EWG) on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Meeting (HADR)

By Directorate of Defence Policy

HANOI, VIET NAM, 09 August 2012 – The Second ADMM-Plus EWG meeting on HADR commenced on 07 August 2012 and ended today in Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. The meeting was co-chaired by Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Do Mai Khanh, Vice Director of the Defence International Relations Institute, Ministry of National Defence, Vietnam, and Colonel Zhao Bao, Deputy Chief of the General Planning Department of the External Affairs Office under the Defence Ministry of China.

The meeting was attended by ADMM-Plus countries as well as representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat; including Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, United States of America, and Vietnam.

The meeting aimed at discussing the legal aspects of using military capabilities and assets in regional and international HADR operations and cooperation. ADMM-Plus countries, with the aim of tapping the best opportunities through the EWG mechanisms, also discussed on ways to further enhance the ADMM-Plus cooperation, whilst looking into the experiences of HADR trainings in respective countries.  

An interesting part of the meeting also included a scenario discussion on national disaster and country responses, followed by a robust discussion on the proposed activities in 2013 and cooperation between EWG HADR and EWG Military Medicine (MM).

The Brunei Darussalam’s Head of Delegation, First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Abdul Aziz bin Haji Mohd Tamit, during the meeting also presented on the preliminary details of the ADMM-Plus HADR/MM Exercise (AHMX+) to be held on 16 to 20 June 2013. In general the participants supported the details of the Exercise, which will be discussed further with the ADMM-Plus countries during the upcoming Initial Planning Conference (IPC) at the end of this month in Brunei Darussalam.

Prior to the meeting, First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Abdul Aziz had an earlier discussion on the AHMX+ with the co-chairs of the EWG on HADR and MM, namely Vietnam and China, and Singapore and Japan, respectively. Two trilateral meetings between Brunei Darussalam, Singapore and China; and Brunei Darussalam, Singapore and Vietnam; and a Five (5) Nation EWG on HADR and MM meetings were also held. The objectives of these meetings were to discuss and align the concept of the AHMX+ among the ADMM-Plus’ members, and to get their full support in cooperating and contributing their assets and personnel to this Exercise.

The EWG on HADR is part of the wider framework of cooperation under the ADMM-Plus platform that was created in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2010. In addition to HADR, there are four other EWGs that include fostering cooperation in MM, Maritime Security, Counter Terrorism and Peacekeeping Operations.