DIIG Current Issues No. 25: ASEAN Defense Industry Collaboration

In February 2011 the defense ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to promote five areas of security cooperation: maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping operations, counter terrorism, and military medicine. In a subsequent meeting in May, they agreed to adopt Malaysia’s concept paper on ASEAN Defense Industry Collaboration (ADIC). This concept paper aims to reduce defense imports by ASEAN members from US $25 billion per year to US $12.5 billion. This represents a new level of security cooperation in a region that is heavily dependent on defense imports. This paper analyzes the effects ADIC may have on defense markets in the region.