CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, Thursday 29 Mar 2012 - The Royal Cambodia Armed Forces hosted the 9th ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM). Themed ‘Enhancing Force Interoperability Towards the 2015 ASEAN Community’, the meeting aptly embodied the efforts of the respective ASEAN armed forces in enhancing its collective role towards the wider strategic aspiration of a community-based ASEAN as the way forward towards the advancement of regional peace and stability. Brunei Darussalam was represented by the Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, Major General Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan Bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin.
The meeting was also attended by General Pol Saroeun, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces as the Chair of the Meeting, as well as Lieutenant General J. Suryo Prabowo, Chief of General Staff of the Indonesian Defence Forces; Brigadier General Souvone Leuangbounmy, Chief of General Staff of the Lao People’s Army; General Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Zulkifeli bin Mohd Zin, Chief of Defence Force of the Malaysian Armed Forces; Lieutenant General Kyaw Swe, Chief of Military Security Affairs of the Defence Services of Myanmar; Lieutenant General Jessie D. Dellosa, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; Lieutenant General Neo Kian Hong, Chief of Defence Force of the Singapore Armed Forces; General Tanasak Patimapragorn, Chief of Defence Forces of the Royal Thai Armed Forces and Colonel General Do Ba Ty, Chief of General Staff of the Vietnamese People’s Army.
Preceding the 9th ACDFIM were the 9th ASEAN Military Intelligence Informal Meeting (AMIIM) and the 2nd ASEAN Military Operations Informal Meeting (AMOIM) held concurrently on 27 March 2012, attended by ASEAN’s Heads of Military Intelligence and Heads of Operations respectively. Brunei Darussalam were represented by the Joint Force Commander for AMOIM and the Director of Intelligence for AMIIM.
The 9th ACDFIM ended on a high note with the signing of the Joint Statement where the Chiefs adopted the Two-Year Work Plan for 2012–2014 and the Administrative Arrangement for the conduct of the ACDFIM, AMIIM and AMOIM.
The Two-Year Work Plan 2012–2014, the fifth of its series, portrays the intensification of practical cooperation most notably through the conduct of multilateral exercises involving ASEAN militaries, where two multilateral exercises are anticipated in the coming two years –namely the ASEAN Information Sharing Exercise (ISX) to be conducted in Singapore in July 2012 and the Second ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Table Top Exercise (HADR TTX) to be co-hosted by Brunei Darussalam and Singapore in 2013. This signifies a significant advancement in ASEAN’s militaries practical activities since the first ever ASEAN-level military exercise - the First ASEAN HADR TTX - was conducted in July 2011.
Meanwhile, the Administrative Arrangements on the conduct of ACDFIM, AMIIM and AMOIM would serve as guidelines to the conduct of an ACDFIM and its subordinate meetings – the AMIIM and AMOIM.
Under the platform of AMOIM, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on the use of military assets for HADR the framework of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Response and Emergency Response (AADMER) was endorsed, thus highlighting ASEAN’s efforts in enhancing HADR interoperability. The AMIIM, on the other hand, affirmed the success of the First ASEAN Militaries Analyst-to-Analyst Intelligence Exchange (AMAAIE) held in the Philippines in September 2011 in promoting intelligence exchange and interactions between the ASEAN militaries intelligence community.
At the sidelines of the ACDFIM, the ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces had a joint courtesy call with the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, His Excellency Samdech Aka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN. The Commander of RBAF also held bilateral meetings with Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
Initiated in 2001, the ACDFIM is an annual regional avenue that gives ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces the opportunity to interact closely and discuss cooperative matters relating to defence and security, both bilaterally and multilaterally. Over the years, the ACDFIM and its subordinate meetings have become an important part of the regional security architecture serving as invaluable platforms for confidence building, capacity building and fostering interoperability among ASEAN militaries. For RBAF, its active participation in the ACDFIM reflects its contribution to defence diplomacy and enhanced participation in regional activities, in line with the goals and initiatives outlined in the country’s Defence White Paper Documents. Brunei Darussalam will host the upcoming 10th ACDFIM in 2013.