ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting to focus on Malacca Strait security

Jakarta, NU Online
An  ASEAN defense ministers’ meeting (ADMM) scheduled for Nov. 14-15 in Singapore will among other things focus on security in the Malacca Strait, Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said.

"One of the focuses of the meeting will be security in  the Malacca Strait," he said here Tuesday.<>

The Malacca Strait is  the world’s busiest waterway through which almost 40 percent of global trade commodities are shipped, he said.

More than 50,000 ships pass through the 500-mile-long strait every year, carrying almost one-fifth of the world’s sea-borne trade commodities, he said.

Tankers carrying tens of millions of barrels of oil also pass through the strait everyday, he was quoted by the state news agency as saying.

He said the annual meeting would also discuss a follow-up to the decision reached at the ASEAN Summit in Cebu, the Philippines, in January 2007 to accelerate the creation of an ASEAN Security Community (ASC) in 2015 instead of 2020 as originally planned.

The ASEAN defense ministers to attend the meeting would be Juwono Sudarsono of Indonesia, Hermogenes E. Ebdane, Jr. of the Philippines, Dato Sri Mohd Najib Tun Hj Abdul Razak of Malaysia, Teo Chee Hean of Singapore, Gen Boonrawd Somtas of Thailand, Gen Plung Quah Thanh of Vietnam, and Gen Tea Banh of Cambodia.

At the meeting, Myanmar would be represented by Deputy Defense Minister Gen Aye Myint, Laos by Deputy Defense Minister Gen Ay Souliyaseng, and Brunei Darussalam by Deputy Defense Minister Pehin Datu Singamentari Col (B) Dato Seri Paduka Haji Mohammad Yasin bin Haji Umar. (dar)