National meeting on ADMM Cooperative Mechanism : Exploring cooperation with ADMM Plus for a shared and unified approach towards regional peace and stability.

This policy research project is jointly conducted by the Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA), Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security (MiDAS), and the Centre for Defence and International Security Studies (CDiSS) of the National Defence University of Malaysia (NDUM).

The study has three main objectives:

• Examine Malaysia’s commitment towards the seven Expert Working Groups (EWGs) namely Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, Maritime Security, Military Medicine, Counter-Terrorism, Humanitarian Mine Action, Peacekeeping Operation, and Cyber Security;
• Take stock of ADMM-Plus activities, explore gaps in the process, directions to take and provide a road map for its role that will accommodate the interests of ASEAN and its Plus members; and
• Address strategic and new challenges on regional security issues and analyse the role of ADMM in advancing security and strategic direction.

To gain comprehensive inputs and overview from stakeholders, three series of activities are planned to accommodate both national and regional interests, as follows:

• A National Meeting to share and deliberate issues relating to national interests in ADMM and ADMM-Plus);
• An ASEAN Workshop to obtain regional perspectives from ASEAN through Track II Network of ASEAN Defence and Security Institutes (NADI); and
• A Plus Cooperative Forum to host a larger audience involving national, ASEAN, and PLUS members to deliberate on ADMM-Plus matters in a Track II setting.

The deliverables for this research project will be two policy-brief documents for national and ADMM-wide consumption, respectively.