CFE-DM attends 5th ADMM-Plus Experts’ Working Group
01.12.201
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – Representatives from the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance attended the 5th ASEAN Defence Ministerial Meeting-Plus Experts’ Working Group (ADMM-Plus EWG) on humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) at the Don Chan Palace Hotel, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic Dec. 10-12, 2014.
Jim Welsh, engagements and training branch chief for CFE-DM, made a presentation to the Experts’ Working Group (EWG) as part of a multi-country discussion of the deployment of military forces for an overseas HADR mission. The EWG was co-chaired by Kengo Sato, director of the Office of International Security Policy, Ministry of Defense, Japan, and Lt. Col. Phayvanh Chanthaphomma, director of ASEAN Division, Ministry of National Defense, Lao People's Democratic Republic.
“This working group is designed to improve regional military disaster response and support for civilian authorities,” said Welsh. “It has continued the progress made during the past three years to improve military collaboration during regional HADR responses.”
The 5th ASEAN Defence Ministerial Meeting-Plus EWG was a continuation of the July 2014 ADMM-Plus EWG on HADR held in Tokyo that focused on the discussions of legal issues of foreign forces; exchange of views on countries’ processes and procedures on the reception of foreign forces in times of natural calamities and emergencies; as well as the development of an ADMM-Plus Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The meeting also discussed the preparations for the Table Top Exercise on HADR, which is scheduled for August 2015 in Lao PDR.
This working group was one of six established under the ADMM-Plus framework that focuses on practical military and defense cooperation. The other ADMM-Plus expert working groups established under the ADMM-Plus mechanism are focused on Maritime Security, Counter Terrorism, Peacekeeping Operations, Military Medicine and Humanitarian Mine Action.