CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, Tuesday 19 Nov 2013 - Brunei Darussalam and Australia today held its 13th Joint Defence Working Committee (JDWC) Meeting at the Novotel Hotel in Canberra, Australia. The Meeting was co-chaired by Brigadier John Joseph Mackenzie, Director General, South East Asia, International Policy Division, Department of Defence of Australia and Haji Adi Ihram bin Dato Paduka Haji Mahmud, Acting Director of Defence Policy at the Ministry of Defence, Brunei Darussalam.
Also in attendance at the meeting were senior military personnel and civilian officers from both countries.
As with previous Australia-Brunei Darussalam’s JDWC meetings, discussion includes review and updates on the current bilateral defence and military cooperation between both countries. Both sides also agreed that more can be done to further strengthen defence cooperation particularly in terms of exercises and trainings. Other new areas discussed in the meeting include possible future cooperation with Australia Defence Forces (ADF) Land Warfare Centre and the Australian Cyber Defence/Cyber Security unit.
During the meeting, both sides also exchanged views on regional and international security matters. For its part, Brunei Darussalam presented the report on the ADMM-Plus HADR and Military Medicine Exercise held in June 2013 in Brunei Darussalam while the Australian side shared their report on the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting – Plus Maritime Security Field Training Exercise (ADMM-Plus MS FTX) conducted recently (1-3 October 2013) in Sydney Harbour, Australia. Australia also gave a presentation on its latest Defence White Paper 2013 and briefed on its handover Chairmanship of the EWG Maritime Security to Brunei Darussalam as the next co-chair of the EWG together with New Zealand under the ADMM-Plus intitiative for the next cycle of 2014 -2016.
As part of the meeting program, the Brunei Darussalam delegation also had the opportunity to visit the Australian War Memorial located at Treloar Crescent, Campbell, Canberra, Australia on 20 November 2013.
The JDWC between Brunei Darussalam and Australia was established through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Defence Cooperation between the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and the Government of Australia signed on 10 May 1999. The MoU serves as a framework for fostering closer defence relations and cooperation between the defence establishments and armed forces of both countries, such as military training, military exercises, exchange of information on matters pertaining to security, training and defence products, and exchange of visits between the respective defence and military officials.
The next 14th JDWC Meeting will be held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam in 2014.