European Security and Defence College (ESDC) and the Indonesia National Defence University (IDU-UNHAN), organised the fourth EU-ASEAN Seminar on security and defence from 26-28 November 2018 in Jakarta.

This seminar was conducted with the support of the European External Action Service's (EEAS) Crisis Management and Planning Directorate, of the EU delegation to Indonesia and of the EU Commission.

In his opening remarks, Mr Dirk DUBOIS highlighted that the ESDC as a network college of over 135 members, is happy to support the efforts of the EEAS to engage with regional security organisations such as ASEAN to face the challenges of a quickly changing security environment in an ever more complex, connected and contested world.

This was the fourth such an activity co-organised by the ESDC since 2014 and the first held outside of the European Union. Bringing together more than 40 security and defence officials and experts from the EU and ASEAN, the event was an excellent platform for exchanging experiences and sharing ideas on tackling regional and global security challenges.

Seminar participants discussed ways of deepening cooperation between ASEAN and the European Union to address emerging threats (including cyber and hybrid), organised crime and maritime security, as well as providing a multinational response to regional security challenges (including enhanced support to UN peacekeeping).

The Head of the ESDC also profited from his stay in Jakarta to visit the Indonesian training centre for Peacekeepers (PMPP TNI), together with colleagues from CMPD and from the Delegation.  This centre prepares the 4000-strong Indonesian contingent for UN peacekeeping operations in different areas in the world for their deployment. During this visit, potential ways of further cooperation were discovered.

Mr Dirk Dubois took also part in the political and security dialogues between the EU and Indonesia on 29 November 2018, whilst on 30 November, he attended the public one-day event on "Enhancing EU-Indonesia cooperation on Security and defence" in the premises of the Indonesia-based think tank CSIS, where he elaborated on the education and training perspectives of the evolving modern peacekeeping and crisis management.

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Speech by H.E. Vincent Guérend, the EU Ambassador to Indonesia, at the Public Dialogue "Advancing EU-Indonesia Security and Defence Partnership"