(PTI)
In her first foreign visit as defence minister, Nirmala Sitharaman will travel to the Philippines on Monday to attend a Southeast Asian defence ministers’ meeting which is likely to review the regional security architecture including China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
During her three-day visit, Sitharaman is likely to hold bilateral talks with her counterparts from a number of countries, defence ministry officials said.The ADMM (ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting)-Plus meeting on October 23 and 24 is expected to deliberate extensively on the situation in Afghanistan and Syria besides China’s growing military presence in the disputed South China Sea.
The ADMM-Plus is a platform for ASEAN and its eight dialogue partners to strengthen security and defence cooperation for peace, stability, and development in the region. The two-day meeting will discuss ways to enhance defence and security cooperation among the member nations to effectively counter various transnational security challenges facing the region.
