9th ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus

Topic- International  Grouping and Agreements [GS Paper-2]

Context- Recently, the Defence Minister of India participated in the 9th ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) Plus held in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Key Highlights 

• Defence Secretary Shri Giridhar Aramane, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) Air Marshal BR Krishna and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of External Affairs also attended the meeting.

India’s Address in the Meeting

Counter Terrorism:

• India called for urgent and resolute global efforts to counter transnational and cross-border terrorism, naming it as the gravest threat to regional and global security.

Other Security Concerns:

• India also brought to the forum’s attention other security concerns arising out of the global Covid-19 pandemic, such as Energy and Food Security .

Maritime Security:

• India advocates a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region and calls for peaceful resolution of disputes by also respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.
• It was stated that the ongoing ASEAN-China negotiations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea should be fully consistent with international law, in particular United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and should not prejudice the legitimate rights and interests of nations that are not party to these discussions.

ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus

• The 2nd ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) in 2007 at Singapore adopted a resolution to establish the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus.
• The first ADMM-Plus was held at Hanoi, Vietnam in 2010.
• Brunei serves as the Chair of the ADMM Plus forum for the year 2021.
• The meeting is an annual meeting of Defence Ministers of 10 ASEAN countries and eight dialogue partner countries.
• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional organization which was established with an objective to promote political and social stability amid rising tensions among the Asia-Pacific’s post-colonial states.
• The ADMM-Plus countries include ten ASEAN Member States i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia and eight Plus countries, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, and the United States.
• The aim of the meeting is to promote mutual trust and confidence between defence establishments through greater dialogue and transparency.
• The Areas of cooperation between countries include Maritime security, counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping operations and military medicine.

Download as PDF