ASEAN Navy Chiefs Meeting Underway
OFFICIATED by Malaysia’s defence minister Khaled Nordin yesterday, the 19th ASEAN Navy Chiefs’ Meeting in Penang Island is underway with a gathering of ASEAN naval chiefs.
The annual meet is one of the ASEAN programmes under the Malaysian Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) chaired by the Chief of Navy, Admiral Zulhelmy Ithnain. Through the ANCM, the navy leaderships of 10 ASEAN states were gathered in Penang to strengthen regional maritime cooperation as well as foster unity and mutual trust among the ASEAN navies through professional engagements and dialogue.
With a theme of “Advancing the ASEAN Navies’ Unity – Synergising Innovation and Technology in Strengthening ASEAN Maritime Security”. This edition of the ANCM involves 88 ASEAN naval delegations from 10 ASEAN states.
The ASEAN naval chiefs included
-Admiral Zulhelmy Ithnain, Chief of Royal Malaysian Navy
-Admiral Muhammad Ali, Chief of Indonesian Navy
-Rear Admiral Sean Wat, Chief of Republic of Singapore Navy
-Admiral Jirapol Wongwit, Commander-in-Chief of Royal Thai Navy
-Vice Admiral Jose Ma Ambrosio Q Ezpeleta, Flag Officer-in-Command of Philippine Navy
-First Admiral Sahibul Bahari, Commander of Royal Brunei Navy
-Admiral Htein Win, Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar Navy
-Vice Admiral Tran Thanh Nghiem, Commander of Vietnam People’s Navy
-Major General Vanthong Bouttavong, Deputy Chief of General Staff Laos People’s Army
-Vice Admiral Tea Sokha, Commander Royal Cambodian Navy
-Commodore Higino Das Neves, Commander of Timor-Leste Defence Force Naval Component
Aside from that, this ANCM also witnesses the involvement of Timor-Leste’s Naval Force as an observer for the first time. AMNEX also sees the participation of 1,350 officers and sailors through the third ASEAN Multilateral Naval Exercise (AMNEX).
In conjunction with Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship this year, the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) hosted AMNEX, the Naval Engineering Conference, ASEAN Open Ship Visit and ASEAN Navies’ City Parade.
The ASEAN Open Ship Visit at Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal drew almost 32,000 visitors who visited the 7 ships from ASEAN navies and 3 from the RMN.–shp/adj/dl (Pix:ADJ)