The working group would provide a formal platform for countries to both exchange
expertise and knowledge as well to promote practical cooperation in the area of cyber
security. Its addition is also a clear signal that ASEAN is increasingly paying greater
attention to cyber security as a key defense issue.
The ADMM-Plus currently has the six ADMM-Plus Experts’ Working Groups (EWGs), the
divisions under which cooperation is structured through field training exercises,
meetings, workshops and seminars. These are: humanitarian assistance and disaster relief
(HADR); maritime security; military medicine; counterterrorism; peacekeeping
operations; and humanitarian mine action.
The Philippines will co-chair the new working group on cyber security with New Zealand
from 2017 to 2020. Manila is also chairing ASEAN next year under the leadership of its
new president Rodrigo Duterte, who won the Philippine election earlier this month to
succeed Benigno Aquino III (See: “The Philippines Under Duterte: Reassurance Needed
at Home and Abroad”).
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