Deputy Permanent Secretary (Policy and Strategy) at the Ministry of Defence Haji Adi Ihram bin Dato Paduka Haji Mahmud attended ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting (ADSOM) and ADSOM-Plus recently as Brunei Darussalam’s representative.
He was accompanied by officers from the Directorate of Defence Policy, Medical and Health Services as well as Royal Brunei Land Force (RBLF).
The meetings held at Borobudur Hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia were chaired by Secretary General of Indonesia’s Ministry of Defence Air Marshal Donny Ermawan Taufanto, MDS as Indonesian ADSOM leader.
The meetings played a significant part in the preparation for the 17th ASEAN Defence Minister’s Meeting (ADMM) and 10th ADMM-Plus in November.
The ADSOM deliberated on several new ADMM initiatives and received updates on the progress of existing defence cooperation among ASEAN members.
The ADSOM-Plus provided updates on the new set of co-chairs for the 2024-2027 cycle of the ADMM-Plus Experts’ Working Groups (ADMM-Plus EWGs), which are maritime security, military medicine, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping operations, humanitarian mine action and cyber security.
The ADSOM-Plus leaders also made a courtesy call to Indonesian Minister of Defence Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto. On the sidelines of the meetings, Haji Adi Ihram held bilateral meetings with ADSOM-Plus leaders from Australia, the Philippines, Singapore and the United States as well as ADSOM-Plus WG leader Laos.
