Overview of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus Experts’ Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations Competency Evaluation Program for Prospective UN Peacekeepers (ADMM-Plus PKO-EWG CEPPP)

in Japanese

From 6 to 22 September 2023 in Hanoi, Viet Nam, JMOD/JSDF took part in the Competency Evaluation Program for Prospective UN Peacekeepers (CEPPP), which is an activity under the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus Experts’ Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations (ADMM-Plus PKO-EWG).

Together with Viet Nam, Japan has been co-chairing the PKO-EWG for three years since 2021. From Japan, approximately 60 personnel including the Director for Defense Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Region, who is the Co-Chair of the PKO-EWG, as well as teams from the Bureau of Defense Policy and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) took part in the CEPPP. All 18-member countries of the ADMM-Plus, comprised of ASEAN Member States and the Plus Countries, the ASEAN Secretariat, and France as an observer country participated in the CEPPP.

In addition to undertaking classroom lectures to acquire knowledge essential to serving as a UN peacekeeper, the participants utilized a scenario developed by the UN Department of Peace Operations to validate coordination procedures such as how UN Military Observers (UNMO) should coordinate with engineers and medical personnel.

By leveraging experience acquired through the deployment of engineering units to UN PKO and in close cooperation with the Ministry of National Defence and the People’s Army of Viet Nam, Japan, as the Co-Chair of PKO-EWG, contributed to enhancing partnerships as well as the knowledge and skills participants require to undertake UN PKO mission tasks.

Furthermore, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Viet Nam, which fell on the day of the CEPPP’s closing ceremony, September 21, the PKO-EWG Co-Chairs inspected the site within the Vietnamese military training area where Japan led and conducted the Road maintenance work together with participants from various countries.

Going forward, JMOD/JSDF will further promote collaboration with relevant countries through ASEAN-led mechanisms such as ADMM-Plus EWGs, and will continue to proactively contribute to the peace and stability of the international community by promoting cooperation in the field of PKO.