Defence Ministers from the Asia-Pacific region will meet here early next month for their annual defence consultations -- the IISS Asia Security Summit or also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.
IISS, the International Institute for Strategic Studies based in London, said that the informal summit from June 2-4 will feature three components, the first being on-the-record plenary sessions which offer a platform for ministers and national security advisers to clarify and expand on government policy.
They are also expected to be challenged during the plenaries by an expert group on policies and assumptions, thus refining the quality of wider public debate on Asian security, IISS said in a statement.
SINGAPORE, May 10 (Bernama) -- Defence Ministers from the Asia-Pacific region will meet here early next month for their annual defence consultations -- the IISS Asia Security Summit or also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.
IISS, the International Institute for Strategic Studies based in London, said that the informal summit from June 2-4 will feature three components, the first being on-the-record plenary sessions which offer a platform for ministers and national security advisers to clarify and expand on government policy.
They are also expected to be challenged during the plenaries by an expert group on policies and assumptions, thus refining the quality of wider public debate on Asian security, IISS said in a statement.
"Secondly, the off-the-record break-out groups, also involving senior officials, provide a private opportunity for professional discussions to analyse more deeply pertinent strategic issues and to advance policy aims.
"Thirdly, the multilateral lunches and dinners help to cultivate the sense of a defence and security community where shared interests can be protected and advanced," IISS said.
In last year's dialogue, Malaysia was represented by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who is also the Defence Minister.
Addressing the plenary sessions then, Najib proposed the establishment of an "Eye In The Sky" aerial surveillance over the Strait of Melaka and Singapore.
The three littoral states of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia had since worked out how to go about implementing the proposal and launched the initiative in September last year.
The IISS said that delegate leaders will be drawn from Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.
Issues to be addressed at the plenary sessions of this year's dialogue include The US and Asia's Emerging Security; India and China: Rising Global Players; Deploying Forces for International Security; Setting National Security Priorities; and Constructing a Regional Security Community.
The break out sessions will address Advancing Maritime Security Cooperation; The Challenges of Force Modernisation; and Counter-Insurgency in the Twenty-First Century.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is scheduled to open the dialogue, which has become a recognised part of the infrastructure of Asian defence diplomacy since its inaugural meeting in 2002.
-- BERNAMA
