BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Wednesday 20 March 2013 – The Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) Major General Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin invited members of the local media for a press conference after the closing of the 10th Asean Chiefs of Defence Forces Informal Meeting (10th ACDFIM) at the Empire Hotel and Country Club where the ACDFIM meeting was held today. Before taking questions from the assembled journalists, the RBAF Commander took a moment to reflect on the general outcomes of the 10th ACDFIM:
“Taking into account of our regional security environment, this informal meeting remains an important avenue for all of us as Chiefs of Defence Forces to come together and further enhance the depths of our military-to-military relationships.
Under the theme “Securing Our People, Our Future Together”, the ACDFIM has been instrumental in facilitating favourable conditions for cooperation in facing mutual defence and security challenges over the years. We have made good progress within our cooperative framework in many areas, be it through the medium of interactions or practical exercises.
Our presence here is a testimony that we all possess the willpower and commitment in synergizing our respective contributions towards a more stable and secure Southeast Asia.
We discussed a wide variety of important security issues encompassing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, Peacekeeping Operations, Military Medicine, Counter-Terrorism, Maritime Security as well as Mine Clearance Operations. These are among the important regional agenda where ASEAN militaries will continue to work together on through information-sharing, capacity building, joint training as well as joint exercises.”
The RBAF Commander also addressed that all the ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces signed the 10th ACDFIM Joint Statement in which all affirmed the vital role played by ASEAN militaries in strengthening more practical forms of cooperation:
“An important milestone that we achieved today is the continuation of our Two-Year Activity Work Plan (2013-2015). This entails a series of confidence-building initiatives as well as practical cooperation activities in areas of common interests, through organizing of meetings, workshops, seminars, interactions, exchanges and exercises by member countries on a voluntary basis. The Two-Year Activity Work Plan is a significant milestone as it serves as a useful indicator for the progress of ACDFIM.
We continue to make significant headway in sharpening our regional HADR response capabilities. This year, the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will be co-hosting the second ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Exercise (AHX) to be held in Brunei Darussalam on 16 June 2013. Malaysia and Thailand will co-host the 3rd AHX in 2014. This signifies a manifestation of the strong commitment in enhancing the preparedness of ASEAN HADR operations.
We also welcome Indonesia to host the second ASEAN Military Intelligence Analyst-to-Analyst Exchange in 2014.
Within the Joint Statement, we also emphasized the role played by ASEAN militaries, together with extra-regional partners, within the ADMM-Plus Expert Working Groups platform, as a concrete demonstration of practical cooperation through the conduct of:
1. The first ADMM-Plus Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief and Military Medicine Exercise (ADMM-Plus HADR and MM Ex) to be held in Brunei Darussalam in June 2013;
2. The first ADMM-Plus Counter-Terrorism Exercise to be held in Indonesia (co-hosted by Indonesia-US) in September 2013;
3. The first ADMM-Plus Maritime Security Exercise to be held in Australia (co-hosted by Malaysia-Australia) in September to October 2013;
4. The first ADMM-Plus Peacekeeping Operations Table- Exercise to be held in the Philippines (co-hosted by Philippines-New Zealand) in the 4th quarter of 2013.”
Finally the RBAF Commander stressed that the ACDFIM has been an effective point of convergence to strengthening the spirit of togetherness and successful cooperation:
“There is an increasing need to further strengthen linkages between the various defence meetings to create more cohesive cooperative outputs. In the light, we agreed to establish and consolidate a procedure of reporting of all Service Chiefs’ Meetings – ASEAN Chiefs of Army Multilateral Meeting (ACAMM), ASEAN Navy Chiefs Meeting (ANCM) and the ASEAN Air Force Chiefs Conference (AACC) – and the ASEAN Chiefs of Military Medicine Conference (ACMMC) directly to the ACDFIM platform. This will add more depth to the outcomes of the ACDFIM towards solidifying our commitment towards strengthening the ASEAN Defence Sector.”
