HA NOI, VIETNAM, Wednesday 18 June 2014 – Another important event marked the positive progress made under the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) mechanism today with the start of the inaugural meeting of the Experts’ Working Group (EWG) on Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) at the Melia Hotel, Ha Noi, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.
The meeting was co-chaired by Senior Colonel Do Mai Khanh, Deputy Director, Institute for Defence International Relations, Ministry of National Defence, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, and Smita Ngaraj, Joint Secretary, Planning and International Cooperation, Ministry of Defence, Republic of India.
Brunei Darussalam’s delegation is headed by Major Haji Abdul Kadir bin Haji Mahmud, RBAF Senior Ammunition Technical Officer and SO2 G4 in the Combat Service Support Headquarters, accompanied by officers from the Directorate of Defence Policy, Ministry of Defence.
On this first day of the meeting, the ADMM-Plus countries focused their discussions on the Work Plan of the EWG on HMA for the cycle of 2014-2017, the assessments of the current situation and consequences of bomb/mine pollution UXO from regional wars and conflicts, and experience-sharing in dealing with bomb, mine and UXO, as well as discussions on regional and international cooperation in dealing with bomb and mine consequences and proposal for ADMM-Plus cooperation. Visits to the Engineer Corps Museum and cultural sites have also been planned for the second day of the meeting.
The ADMM-Plus EWG on HMA is the sixth EWG established under the ADMM-Plus framework that focuses on practical military and defence cooperation. It was adopted by the 7th ADMM and the 2nd ADMM-Plus in Brunei Darussalam last year. The other ADMM-Plus EWGs that have been established under the ADMM-Plus mechanism are the EWG on Maritime Security, EWG on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, EWG on Counter Terrorism, EWG on Peacekeeping Operations and EWG on Military Medicine.
The ADMM-Plus member states consist of the ten ASEAN countries with the inclusion of Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and USA.