By Nur Maszawani Abdullah
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND Wednesday 9 May 2012 - The Second ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Defence Officials’ Dialogue (DOD) for the inter-sessional year 2011-2012, held back to back with the ARF Inter-Sessional Support Group Meeting on Confidence Building Measures and Preventive Diplomacy (ARF ISG on CBMs and PD), was held in Wellington, New Zealand from 7 June to 9 June 2012. The meetings were co-chaired by New Zealand and Cambodia.
The ARF DOD in particular noted the significant number of existing defence meetings that played an increasingly important role in building confidence among militaries and contributed to regional security. The Dialogue agreed for the number of DOD meetings to be reduced from existing 4 meetings in light of new regional architecture following the establishment of ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+). The Dialogue emphasised that ADMM Plus should continue to focus on practical cooperation while the ARF DOD could continue to provide comprehensive and strategic direction, hence the need for information sharing and coordination between the two platforms.
The Dialogue reiterated that defence officials have an important role to play in preventive diplomacy through transparent mechanism particularly in relevant areas of military activities, and suggested that tangible actions and efforts that strengthen cooperation are the key to moving from CBMs to PD.
During the ARF ISG on CBMs and PD, the issues of South China Sea, situation in the Korean Peninsula, and positive progress in Myanmar were extensively discussed.
The meeting was attended by most of the ARF member countries and Track 2 organisations. Brunei Darussalam was represented by officials from the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The next ARF DOD will be hosted by Cambodia on 24 May 2012 together with the ARF Security Policy Conference (ASPC) meeting on 25 May 2012.