Brunei holds first workshop on establishing ASEAN hotline

The Ministry of Defense of Brunei Darussalam held the first ever workshop on establishing a direct communication link, or'hotline' within the ASEAN region and beyond, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday. This workshop is an outcome of Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah 's intention to have practical procedures in place to avoid any undesired incidents at sea which was communicated during the 22nd ASEAN Summit in April 2013, said the Defense Ministry's website. The ASEAN Defense Ministers during their 7th Meeting in May 2013 responded to this call made by the Sultan of Brunei. Consequently, the initiative is taken up under the framework of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM). The workshop is held at the Centrepoint Hotel in Bandar Seri Begawan on Feb. 10-13, 2014. The focus of the two-day workshop is to discuss on issues and possible concepts of the direct communication link or hotline in the ADMM Process. The workshop has also invited distinguished panel speakers from the United Nations and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Colonel (Retd) Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Azmansham Pengiran Haji Mohamad, Permanent Secretary (Defense Policy and Development) from the Brunei's Ministry of Defense, in his opening speech, said that the workshop is the first step in establishing the aforementioned direct communication link and expressed his confidence in meeting the objectives successfully. He noted that this confidence stems from the cooperation, understanding and solidarity of ASEAN and also, from the talent and dedication of the officials participating in the workshop. Colonel (Retd) Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Azmansham also noted the difficulties and sensitivities that they will face in their deliberations, but hoped that this diversity will not deter, but instead augment their wealth of experiences to draw upon as this will be a notable contribution in fulfilling the prospects of having an ASEAN Community by next year. A total of 46 participants from the ASEAN countries and ASEAN Secretariat attended the workshop.