The ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting (ADSOM) and ADSOM-Plus were convened via videoconference, on 26-27 August 2026. The Meetings brought together ADSOM Leaders from all ASEAN Member States, as well as senior officials responsible for defence from the Plus Countries. The Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for the ASEAN Political-Security Community, H.E. Dato’ Astanah Abdul Aziz, represented the ASEAN Secretariat at the Meetings.
The ADSOM discussed progress in the implementation of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) Work Programme 2023-2026, newly proposed initiatives under the ADMM and the defence sector’s external engagements. The ADSOM-Plus discussed progress under the ADMM-Plus Experts’ Working Groups and exchanged views on regional security issues and noted relevant recent developments in ASEAN, as reported by the ASEAN Secretariat. The Meetings also discussed the preparations for the upcoming 20th ADMM and 13th ADMM-Plus in October.
