Asean armed forces have agreed to step up defense cooperation covering maritime security, counter-terrorirsm, humanitarian military operations, disease epidemic mitigation and peace maintenance.
They reached the agreement at the end of the 5th Asean Chiefs of Defense Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM) in Singapore on Thursday.
The three-day meeting brought together chiefs and deputy chiefs of ASEAN armed forces -- Marshal Djoko Suyanto of Indonesia, Maj. Gen. Dato Paduka Seri HJ Awang Halbi Bin Hj Md Yussof of Brunei, Gen. Ke Kim Yan of Cambodia, Gen. Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Bin Hj Zainal of Malaysia, Gen. Hermogenes C Esperon Jr. of the Philippines, Gen. Boonsrang Niumpradit of Thailand, Brig. Gen. Bouasieng Champaphanh of Laos, Lt. Gen. E Myint of Myanmar, Lt. Gen. Pham Hong Loi of Vietnam, and Lt. Gen. Desmond Kuek of Singapore.
They also agreed to cooperate in promoting the capacity building and professionalism of their respective armed forces through the existing cooperation.
To promote the capacity building, the Asean armed forces would among others conduct joint exercises and workshops, exchange information and enhance intelligence cooperation.
Looking ahead, chiefs of the 10 ASEAN armed forces agreed to focus on exchanging information on regional and global security situations as well as on conducting humanitarian military operations as part of disaster mitigation efforts.
In this connection, they agreed to discuss in detail relief aid and disaster mitigation in the next informal meeting to be held in Thailand. (*)
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