Article Posted on : - Aug 28, 2013

NEW DELHI (PTI): Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh will represent India at the second ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (Plus) starting Wednesday at Brunei.

Singh is the last minute replacement for Defence Minister A K Antony, who was earlier scheduled to attend the important meeting, but could not go there in view of the ongoing Parliament session and related political activities.

"During the meeting, member states are expected to discuss a range of security issues, as well as measures to promote cooperation among the defence establishments. A joint declaration is expected to be issued at the end of the meeting," a Defence Ministry statement said.

At the meeting, Singh will be accompanied by a high-level delegation including Chief of Integrated Defence Staff Lt Gen Anil Chait, Joint Secretary (International Cooperation) Smita Nagaraj and other military officials.

India is a member of the ADMM Plus, which is a forum of the Defence Ministers of 10 ASEAN and 8 non-ASEAN countries.

The second ADMM Plus meeting is being held 3 years after the inaugural meet in Hanoi, Vietnam in October, 2010.

The objective of the ADMM Plus is to foster cooperation among the member countries to promote peace and stability, to address common security challenges and to enhance mutual trust and confidence between the defence establishments of member countries through dialogue and exchanges.

In the last three years, a number of practical cooperation initiatives have been implemented under the ADMM Plus format, through five Expert Working Groups.