• The 14th meeting of ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) Experts Working Group (EWG) on Counter-Terrorism will be held in New Delhi from March 19 to 20.

• The EWG conclave will be co-chaired by India and Malaysia.

• The EWGs are each co-chaired by one ASEAN member state and one dialogue partner following a three-year cycle.

• The task of the co-chairs is to lay down the objectives, policy guidelines and directions for the EWG for the three-year cycle. 

• Delegations from 10 ASEAN members and eight dialogue partners along with Timor Leste and the ASEAN Secretariat will be participating in the meeting.

• The meeting aims to share the on-ground experience of the defence forces of ASEAN and its dialogue partners. It will lay the foundation for the activities/exercises/seminars/workshop planned for the cycle 2024-2027.

ADMM-Plus

• ADMM-Plus is a platform comprising 10-nation ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and its eight dialogue partners — India, China, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the United States (collectively referred to as the “Plus Countries”).

• It aims to strengthen security and defence cooperation for peace, stability, and development in the region.

• The inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened in Hanoi in Vietnam in October 2010.

• Since 2017, the ADMM-Plus meets annually, to allow enhanced dialogue and cooperation among ASEAN and the Plus Countries in the midst of an increasingly challenging regional security environment.

The objectives of the ADMM-Plus are:

i) To benefit ASEAN Member States in building capacity to address shared security challenges, while cognisant of the differing capacities of various ASEAN Member States.

ii) To promote mutual trust and confidence between defence establishments through greater dialogue and transparency.

iii) To enhance regional peace and stability through cooperation in defence and security, in view of the transnational security challenges the region faces.

iv) To contribute to the realisation of an ASEAN security community which, as stipulated in the Bali Concord II, embodies ASEAN’s aspiration to achieve peace, stability, democracy and prosperity in the region where ASEAN Member States live at peace with one another and with the world at large.

v) To facilitate the implementation of the Vientiane Action Programme, which calls for ASEAN to build a peaceful, secure and prosperous ASEAN, and to adopt greater outward-looking external relation strategies with our friends and Dialogue Partners.

What is ASEAN?

• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok by five countries —  Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

• There are currently 10 member states: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam.

• In November 2022, ASEAN announced that it has agreed in principle to admit East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, as the group’s 11th member. The half-island nation is granted observer status at high-level ASEAN meetings.

• The ASEAN Summit is the highest policy-making body in ASEAN comprising the heads of State or government of ASEAN member states. As per regular practice, the ASEAN Summit Meetings shall be held twice annually. The first ASEAN Summit was held in Bali, Indonesia on February 23-24, 1976.

• ASEAN is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region. India and several other countries, including the US, China, Japan and Australia, are its dialogue partners.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)