"Hope to move agenda on counter terrorism forward," says Head of Malaysian Delegation at ASEAN Defence Ministers meet

New Delhi [India], January 14 (ANI): At the 16th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting- Plus Experts Working Group on counter terrorism co-chaired by India and Malaysia, Muhammad Ammir Haron, Head of Delegation from Malaysia, said that they expected to carry forward their agenda on counter terrorism.
He said, "We have full participation from ADMM plus and ASEAN countries, and we hope to move forward our agenda on counter terrorism. We work across the globe to help ensure peace and stability across the region, not towards any particular country."
The meeting of 16th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus Experts Working Group (EWG) on Counter Terrorism (CT) and Final Planning Conference for Table Top Exercise is scheduled from January 14 to 16, as per a statement by the Ministry of Defence.
India and Malaysia will co-chair the 16th EWG on CT meeting. Delegations from 11 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Timor Leste) and 07 dialogue partners (Australia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Japan, China, USA and Russia) along with ASEAN Secretariat representatives will participate in the EWG on CT. This will be the third meeting for the ongoing cycle from 2024-2027.
The meeting will provide an important platform to review progress since the previous session, deliberate on the ongoing and planned activities under the three-year work plan to further strengthen India's multilateral cooperation on Counter-Terrorism with the ADMM-Plus framework.
The Final Planning Conference for Table Top Exercise will be conducted on 14 January. Malaysia will host Table Top Exercise during the next edition of EWG meeting in 2026. India will subsequently hold Field Training Exercise in 2027.
The ADMM-Plus serves as a platform for practical cooperation among the participating countries' defence establishments. It currently focuses on seven areas of practical cooperation namely maritime security, counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping operations, military medicine, humanitarian mine action and cyber security. The EWGs have been established to facilitate cooperation in these seven areas, the statement added. (ANI)