The 9^th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) will take place from March 15-16 in the northwest state of Kedah, Malaysia, announced Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on March 9.

Ministers are scheduled to discuss and approve the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the coordination of humanitarian aid and natural disaster assistance in the region.

According to Hussein, the SOP will be built on the experience and information shared by the bloc’s member states, taking information from the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, a series of super typhoons in the Philippines, and Malaysia’s reaction to the aviation disasters of the MH370, MH17 and QZ8501 flights last year into account.

He called on the ASEAN member countries to learn from the accidents and use the group’s experience to develop comprehensive measures to prevent situations and cope with any that occur.

The meeting will also focus its discussions on establishing the ASEAN peace-keeping force.

(Source: VNA)