Bandar Seri Begawan - The Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) recently hosted the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief and Military Medicine Exercise (ADMM Plus HADR & MM Exercise) Asean Steering Committee Meeting (SCM), Reconnaissance of the Exercise Area and Site Visit from Nov 26 to Nov 28, a press release stated.

The event involved five countries - People's Republic of China, Japan, Singapore, India and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Military personnel and disaster assessment experts from various nations participating in the ADMM Plus HADR & MM Ex convened at the meeting to further discuss the planning and implementation of the multilateral inter-operability exercise. The meeting was held at the Rizqun International Hotel in Gadong. The SCM is the continuation of the previous Initial Planning Conference (IPC) which was held last August. The formation of the steering committee for the ADMM-Plus HADR & MM Exercise consists of Brunei Darussalam as the Host Nation; China and Vietnam as the Co-Chairs of the ADMMPlus Experts' Working Group (EWG) on HADR; as well as Japan and Singapore as the Co-Chairs of the ADMM-Plus on EWG MM.

The SCM focused on the indicative contribution of military assets and personnel from the participating countries, reviewing the exercise area and scenarios as well as focusing on enhancing the upcoming Exercise Organisation of Multi-National Coordination Centre (NMCC) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of ADMM Plus HADR & MM Exercise for the upcoming exercise in June 2013.

Prior to the SCM, the delegation made a site visit to the Royal Brunei Air Force Base in Rimba, followed by the Royal Brunei Navy Base in Muara. The following day, the delegation visited Temburong District to have a closer look at the exercise ground. The purpose of the site visits was to allow the planners to appreciate and consider the contribution that they are going to commit to for next year's exercise. This had also given them first hand information and thus drawing out limitation for the exercise.

The SCM focuses on the indicative contribution of military assets and personnel from the participating countries, reviewing the exercise area and scenarios as well as focusing on enhancing the upcoming Exercise Organisation of Multi-National Coordination Centre (NMCC) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of ADMM Plus HADR & MM Exercise for the upcoming exercise in June 2013.

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin