Wednesday`s meeting was also attended by Coordinating Minister for Political, Law and Security Djoko Suyanto, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Military(TNI) Chief Agus Suhartono.
With the theme "Synergizing the Role of ASEAN Military in Response to Current Regional Challenges", the informal meeting would concluded on April 1.
Indonesian Military spokesman Iskandar Sitompul said this year`s meeting would discuss regional challenges and the high military officials` overview on it.
The meeting was expected to yield a solid joint statement from all the stakeholders regarding challenges in the region so that it would give a positive impact on efforts to ensure peace and stability in Southeast Asia.
Earlier, ASEAN was reported to also plan to use military assets to help handling post-disaster situations in the region.
Director General of Defense Power Units at the Defense Ministry Admiral Mochammad Jurianto addressed the opening of a seminar themed The Use of ASEAN Military Assets and Capacities last Tuesday (March 29) said humanitarian aid and post-disaster handling would be one of ASEAN`s main focuses in future military cooperation.
However, Jurianto hoped the use of military assets to help in handling post-disaster situations would be in line with the spirit of respecting the sovereignty of the related country.
"The implementation must also respect human rights without discriminating the victims of natural disasters in the respected countries," he added.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by ASEAN Founding Fathers Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Brunei Darussalam then joined on 7 January 1984, Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999.
(SYS/A051/F001)
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
