Defense minister to push for regional security, stability

Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro says he will ask his ASEAN counterparts to strengthen regional security stability in efforts to prevent disruptions such as piracy, smuggling activities and terrorism.

“We could gain more trust from the international community by doing this,” Purnomo said Wednesday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Purnomo also said he plans to encourage security officers in the region to meet both formally and informally to speed up these efforts, adding that dozens of formal meetings had been scheduled this year to discuss regional security matters.

Indonesia is also scheduled to host the ASEAN Defense Ministerial Meeting (ADMM) on May 19 in Jakarta.