Minister for Defence Senator the Hon Marise Payne will visit Malaysia from 4 to 5 November 2015 to attend the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (the ADMM‑Plus).
Minister Payne said the ADMM-Plus was Australia’s top priority for our defence engagement with regional security architecture.
The ADMM-Plus has a focus on practical military cooperation, including sharing expertise, standardising procedures and conducting field exercises.
It will be the third meeting of ministers since the ADMM-Plus was established in 2010.
The meeting will discuss progress in cooperation within the ADMM-Plus framework and regional security developments.
“Australia welcomes the success of the ADMM‑Plus in fostering practical military cooperation,” Minister Payne said.
“As the current co-chair with Singapore of the ADMM-Plus Counter Terrorism Experts’ Working Group, we have helped build the region’s collective capacity to combat terrorism.”
“This work will culminate with a major regional maritime security and counter-terrorism exercise in Singapore and Brunei in May 2016.”
The meeting will be attended by defence ministers from the 18 member countries. The ADMM-Plus includes the 10 ASEAN members and eight ‘Plus’ countries: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States.
While in Kuala Lumpur, the Minister will also take the opportunity to conduct a series of bilateral discussions.