BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 19 March 2013 – The Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) is privileged to host the 10th ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM) scheduled for March 19-21, 2013 in Bandar Seri Begawan, drawing the participation of Chiefs of Defence Forces from all ten ASEAN member countries.
Brunei Darussalam will be led by the Commander of the RBAF Major General Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin. Meanwhile the other ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces arriving today are Lieutenant General Eth Sarath, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Royal Cambodian Armed Forces; Admiral TNI Dato Paduka Seri Agus Suhartono, S.E. Commander-in-Chief, Indonesian National Defence Forces; Brigadier General Suvone Leoung Bounmy, Chief of the General Staff Department, Lao People’s Army; Lieutenant General Datuk Raja Mohamed Affandi bin Raja Mohamed Noor, Chief of Staff, Malaysian Armed Forces Headquarters, Lieutenant General Thet Naing Win, Commander of No.(4) Bureau of Special Operations Office of the Commander-in-Chief (Army), Defence Services of Myanmar; General Emmanuel Trinidad Bautista, Chief of Staff Armed Forces of the Philippines; Major General Ng Chee Meng, Chief of Defence Force (Designate) Singapore Armed Forces; General Tanasak Patimapragorn, Chief of Defence Forces, Royal Thai Armed Forces; and Senior Leiutenant General Do Ba Ty, Chief of the General Staff Vietnam People’s Army, Vice Minister of the National Defence of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The ACDFIM is designed to be a forum of transparent discussion for ASEAN Chief of Defence Forces’ to show goodwill towards boosting friendship, to share each country’s experience and achievements with an aim to enhance multilateral military cooperation in maintaining regional peace, security, sustaining stability and development, humanitarian assistance, relief operations and many other interactional backings.
Organized annually, the three-day meeting has an informal format, preceded by the 10th ASEAN Military Intelligence Informal Meeting (AMIIM) and 3rd ASEAN Military Operations Informal Meeting (AMOIM) which was held yesterday, 18 March 2013.
The meeting is expected to conclude with continuous commitments of regional cooperation in line with this year’s theme, “Securing Our People, Our Future Together”.
The first ACDFIM was held in Indonesia in 2001. After that, each ASEAN countries, in its turn, hosts the meeting annually. Brunei Darussalam hosted the 2nd ACDFIM for the first time in 2003.