Bandar Seri Begawan - The Initial Planning Conference (IPC) for the second Asean Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Exercise (2nd AHX) and the ADMM-Plus Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and Military Medicine (MM) came to a close yesterday at the Rizqun Hotel, Gadong.

Concluding the two-day IPC, all Asean member states and the 8 ADMM-Plus States, along with representatives from Asean Secretariat, expressed their strong support as well as firm commitment to participate in what would be the first ever HADR and MM Exercise under the ADMM-Plus mechanism.

On August 29, the Commander of Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF), Major General Dato Paduka Seri Hj Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Hj Abidin also had the chance to meet and mingle with all the foreign delegates of the IPC during the event.

The IPC member states also visited the proposed exercise area of operation on August 29 and 30.

Among other significant outcomes of the IPC, several countries have identified and pledged their contributions in terms of assets and expertise for the exercise.

The IPC has also agreed on the formation of the Steering Group for the ADMM-Plus HADR and MM Exercise, consisting of Brunei Darussalam as the Host Nation; China and Vietnam as the Co-Chairs of the ADMM-Plus Experts' Working Group (EWG) on HADR; as well as Japan and Singapore as the Co-Chairs of the ADMM-Plus on MM.

An agreement to establish a Working Group in all relevant components to the exercise is also reached.

As the host nation to both the 2nd AHX as well as the ADMM-Plus HADR and MMEx Brunei Darussalam places paramount importance in ensuring that these efforts will bring successful outcomes. Towards this, a more detailed timeline towards the next planning conference - namely the Mid Planning Conference (MPC) - has also been agreed upon during the IPC.

The MPC will be held in Singapore in January 2013, to be followed by a Final Planning Conference scheduled to be hosted by Brunei Darussalam in April 2013.

During his closing remarks of the IPC, the IPC Chairman, First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Abd Aziz bin Hj Mohd Tamit, Joint Force Commander RBAF, expressed his utmost gratitude to all ADMM-Plus and Asean Secretariat representatives for their active participations and recommendations in bringing the IPC to a successful conclusion.