By Marina Abdullah Sitau & Siti Norain Hj Abdul Ghafor
Beijing, 2-5 November 2011 – The inaugural ADMM-Plus EWG meeting on HADR commenced on 3 November 2011 and ended on 4 November 2011 in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. The meeting was co-chaired by China and Vietnam.
This first meeting was attended by most of ADMM-Plus countries as well as representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat; including Australia, Brunei Darussalam, 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 familiarizing all member countries on respective nations’ HADR organizational structure and experience with emphasis on military’s functions, missions and relations to other government agencies. Several countries also gave presentations on their experience in providing HADR at the international level; as well as priority areas of HADR cooperation within the framework of ADMM-Plus and initiatives for practical cooperation.
Participants also had the opportunity to visit the China National Training Base for Urban Search and Rescue where they experienced an earthquake simulation; and witnessed a demonstration on urban search and rescue by the China Search and Rescue Team.
The next meeting is scheduled to be held in Vietnam in mid-2012.
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 Maritime Security, Counter Terrorism, Military Medicine and Peacekeeping Operations.