DILI, 15 november 2023 (TATOLI) – The 17th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) took place in Jakarta, Indonesia on wednesday, approved defense observer status for Timor-Leste.
Indonesia’s Defense Minister, Prabowo Subianto, on behalf of his government, greeted his ASEAN counterparts, except for Myanmar, for their absence at the meeting. In the first session of the meeting, the organization’s Defense Ministers discussed and agreed to accept the Timorese Defense Minister, Donaciano Costa Gomes ‘Pedro Klamar Fuik’, to participate in the meeting as an observer.
“If ASEAN member States do not oppose Timor-Leste’s participation in the ASEAN meeting, I have decided to approve it and to invite Timor-Leste’s Minister of Defense, Donaciano Gomes, to join the meeting as an observer,” announced Prabowo Subianto.
Following the approval of Timor-Leste’s observer status, the Indonesian Defense Minister authorized his Timorese counterpart to speak at the meeting. On this occasion, the ASEAN defense ministers approved an important agenda, known as the Senior Officials Meeting, to discuss the security and defense of the member countries at a regional and multilateral level.
The ADMM is the highest defense consultative and cooperative mechanism in ASEAN. The ADMM aims to promote mutual trust and confidence through a greater understanding of defense and security challenges as well as the enhancement of transparency and openness.
In addition to promoting regional peace and stability through defense and security dialogue and cooperation, the ADMM also aims to guide senior military and defense officials, defense and security dialogue and cooperation within ASEAN, and to contribute to the establishment of the ASEAN Security Community (ASC), as envisaged in the Bali II Concordat, and to promote the implementation of the Vientiane Action Program (VAP) in the ASC.
Since its creation in 2006, Practical cooperation in the ASEAN defense sector has grown steadily since its inception with various initiatives in the following areas: Maritime Security (MS); Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR); Counter-Terrorism (CT); Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) and Military Medicine (MM).
The objectives of the ADMM, are: “to promote regional peace and stability through dialogue and cooperation in defense and security; to give guidance to existing senior defense and military officials dialogue and cooperation in the field of defense and security within ASEAN and between ASEAN and dialogue partners; to promote mutual trust and confidence through greater understanding of defense and security challenges as well as enhancement of transparency and openness; and to contribute to the establishment of an ASEAN Security Community (ASC) as stipulated in the Bali Concord II and to promote the implementation of the Vientiane Action Program (VAP) on ASC.
Journalist: José Belarmino De Sá
Editor: Filomeno Martins
