By Siti Zahira Hj Abu Bakar
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 18 March 2013 - The 10th ASEAN Military Intelligence Informal Meeting (AMIIM) and 3rd ASEAN Military Operations Informal Meeting (AMOIM) are held concurrently today aiming at further strengthening the bloc's military cooperation. The 3-day AMIIM and AMOIM are subordinate meetings of the 10th ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces Informal Meeting which is scheduled on 19th March 2013.
Themed "Securing Our People, Our future Together", both AMIIM and AMOIM are attended by ASEAN’s Heads of Military Intelligence and Heads of Operations respectively. The AMIIM 2013 will mark the 10th series of AMIIM that has been conducted so far. The meeting this year is led by the Director of Intelligence Ministry of Defence Brunei Darussalam.
Established in 2002, AMIIM serves as an important regional platform for military intelligence chiefs from ASEAN countries to interact and strengthen vital information sharing networks to consequently widen the horizons of defence and security collaboration. In addition to this, AMIIM also serves as the secretariat for the ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM).
Meanwhile, the 3rd ASEAN Military Operations Informal Meeting (AMOIM) which is led by First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Abdul Aziz Haji Mohd Tamit, Joint Force Commander, Royal Brunei Armed Forces was also held here to review ASEAN military activities in the past year on humanitarian operations and to set an action plan for coming years.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.