REPUBLIC OF PHILIPPINES, 9 – 11 Sept 2013 - The 7th ASEAN Navy Chiefs Meeting (ANCM) at the Fairmont and Raffles Hotel, Makati City. The ANCM is one of the military-to-military interactions under the framework of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and is held annually since 2011. It was, however, originally known as the ASEAN Navies Interaction that was first held in 2001 and previously conducted biennially.
The ANCM was attended by 9 Chiefs of Navies of the 10 ASEAN countries namely First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Haji Abdul Halim bin Haji Mohd Hanifah, Commander of Royal Brunei Navy; Vice Admiral Tea VINH, Commander Royal Cambodian Navy; Admiral Dr. Marsetio, Chief of Staff, Indonesian Navy; Admiral Tan Sri Abdil Aziz Jaafar, Chief of Navy, Royal Malaysian Navy; Admiral Thura Thet Swe, Commander in Chief, The Republic of the Union of the Myanmar Navy; Rear Admiral Ng Chee Peng, Chief of Navy, Republic of Singapore Navy; Admiral Surasak Rounroengrom, Commander in Chief, Royal Thai Navy; Admiral Nguyen Van Hien, Commander in Chief, Vietnam People’s Navy. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic was represented by Mr Khamfeung Phantaxay, Second Secretary, Lao Embassy. Vice Admiral Jose Luis M Alano AFP, Flag Officer In Command, Philippine Navy was this year’s Chair of the ANCM and presided over the meeting. Separate bilateral meetings between the navies were conducted on the sidelines of the 7th ANCM. Vice Admiral Alano met separately with all visiting navy chiefs.
Prior to their meeting, the Chiefs of Navies held a joint call with the Honorable Voltaire Gazmin, the Secretary of National Defences and General Emmanuel T Bautista, the Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines. His Excellency President Benigno Simeon Aquino III gave the Keynote Address during the meeting.
During the meeting, the Chiefs of Navies exchanged views on regional maritime security developments focusing on this year’s theme ‘Partnership for Peace and Prosperity’. The exchange of views highlighted the role of the ASEAN Navies in promoting peace in Southeast Asia through dialogue, consultation, and conduct of practical activities that builds confidence, trust, and transperancy among them.
The ANCM discussed a host of agenda covering their past discussions and new initiative, and agreement on the conduct of future meetings. The meeting reaffirmed the ASEAN Navies’ commitment to continue with existing bilateral and multilateral joint and coordinated patrols to address maritime security concerns in the waters bordering their countries. They also moved forward to the implementation of the agreed greeting and communications procedures among ASEAN Navies as a confidence-building measure. The participants also agreed to maintain direct communications through a list of hotlines to be maintained and regularly updated in the ASEAN Information-Sharing Portal hosted by the Royal Singapore Navy.
The Chiefs of Navies also committed to further work on the following initiatives: a. development of the ANCM Road Map; b. establishment of a permanent ANCM secretariat; c. establishments of an ANCM Plus process with the navies of ASEAN Dialogue Partners; and d. formulation of a Common ASEAN Navies Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) Protocol in line with the previous agreements of the ASEAN Defences ministers and Heads of States and Governments. The meeting dicussed possible navy activities such as the Fleet Review and conjunction with the celebration of the ASEAN 50th Founding Anniversary in 2017.
The meeting welcomed the hosting of the Royal Thai Navy of the 8th ANCM in 2014 and the 9th ANCM in 2015 by the Myanmar Navy.