West Philippine Sea among issues to be discussed at ASEAN Defense Ministers in Pampanga

September 28, 2017

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said among the top agenda on the ASEAN Defense Minister’s Meeting (ADMM) next month will include issues in the West Philippine Sea.

“One is counter-terrorism, one is climate mitigation, drug problems. Of course, we are going to have some statement also resolution on some of the conflicts within the West Philippine Sea. Hopefully we would have a unified statements on that with the ASEAN countries,” he said Thursday.

“It will be a huge conference that we will talk about common interests. We will discuss terrorism, drugs. (Of) course we are in the area where we suffer a lot of calamities, so disaster management (as well),” he added.

Lorenzana said during the meeting they will have dialogues with eight other nations at the ADMM-Plus.

The ASEAN member states that will participate in the meeting are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietna.

They will be joined by Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, ROK, Russian Federation, and the United States.

The ADMM-Plus, set October 23 to 24, will be held in Clark, Pampanga. Robina Asido/DMS