ASEAN should maintain centrality in programs: RI defense minister

Dina Indrasafitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Thu, 05/19/2011

ASEAN must maintain its centrality in developing the ADMM Plus forum, which includes the ASEAN member states and other countries including Japan and the United States, Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Thursday at the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting in Jakarta.

The recent ASEAN Defense Senior Officials Meeting Plus (ADSOM Plus) in Yogyakarta, co-hosted by Indonesia and the US, as well as peacekeeping operations co-hosted by the Philippines and New Zealand, had determined five areas of defense cooperation, including antiterrorism, Purnomo said.

“One thing we must underline ... is that ASEAN's centrality must remain the working basis manifested through the increased performance of the ADMM," he said.

The ADMM forum, aside from stimulating interaction between defense communities and armed forces in the ASEAN multilateral context and regional context with partnering countries such as the US, is also a vehicle to boost bilateral cooperation, he said.

"The ADMM, from the first to the fifth, aside from being a series of meetings at a defense-minister level, have also included ... increasing interaction and meetings between admirals of armed forces. This positive development significantly improved transparency, trust and respect, which are very important to the strengthening of ASEAN defense cooperation in the future," he said.

During his speech, Purnomo congratulated Myanmar and Singapore on their “recent successful elections" and on Myanmar's new defense minister.

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