Cambodia to host ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting

PHNOM PENH - Defense ministers from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will gather in Cambodia's Siem Reap province on November 15-17 to exchange views on national defense and regional security issues, a press release from the Ministry of Defense said Monday.

ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) Retreat is organized after the 6th ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM) on May 28-30 in Phnom Penh, the press release said.

There will be a presentation by Cambodia about the country's initiative on the ASEAN Civil War Free Zone, and another presentation by Brunei on the first-ever multilateral military exercise under the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM- Plus) on the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief and Military Medicine.

Lt Gen Nem Sowath, director general of the Cambodian Defense Ministry's Policy and Foreign Affairs Department, said in a press briefing on Monday that at the upcoming retreat, Cambodia will hand over the role as the chair of ADMM to Brunei's Defense Ministry, which will host such meeting in 2013.

Founded in 1967, ASEAN groups the ten members of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.