7^TH ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM MEET OF HEAD OF DEFENCE INSTITUTIONS

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The 7^th Meet of the Heads of National Defence Universities Institutions and Colleges of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is being held in New Delhi from Oct 15 to 17, 2003. The meeting is being conducted by National Defence College, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi. During the meeting issue concerning the role of Armed Forces in assisting civil administration during national calamities and in operations relating to peace keeping is expected to be discussed.

The meet delegates from 23 countries are expected to participate these comprise the ten ASEAN members, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam besides the twelve dialogue partners to include Australia, Canada, China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and United States, Papua New Guinea is being represented as an observer.

The 6^th ARF Meet of the heads of Defence Institutions was held at Moscow in Sep 2002. Where issues related to development of military education in the 21^st Century were discussed. The ARF was formed in 1994 with a view to fostering constructive dialogue and consultation on political and security issues of common interest. The forum also aims at making significant contributions towards instituting confidence building measures and putting in place, steps for preventive diplomacy in the Asia – Pacific region.