Australia hosts Meeting of Working group on counter-terrorism

From 6 to 8 December 2016, Australia hosted defence officials from across our region at the sixth meeting of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus Experts’ Working Group on Counter-Terrorism in Sydney.
 
The Deputy Special Operations Commander Australia said the meeting allowed regional military officials to discuss the shared threat of international terrorism as it continues to evolve.
 
“Delegates discussed regional terrorism issues such as returning foreign terrorist fighters, the relationship between organised crime and terrorism and how we can work together practically to meet these threats,” the Deputy Commander said.
 
Australia and Singapore have co-chaired the Experts’ Working Group on Counter-Terrorism since 2014. The meeting was the last to take place in our co-chair period.
 
Thailand and China will take over as the co-chairs of the Experts’ Working Group from 2017 to 2020.
 
The 2016 Defence White Paper highlights the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus as Australia’s priority for defence engagement with multilateral security frameworks in the Indo-Pacific.
 
Australia and Indonesia will co-chair the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus Experts’ Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations from 2017-2020.