News Headline

 

​MUARA, Wednesday, 27 October 2021 – The 17^th West Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) was held virtually for the first time this year and was hosted by the Philippines Navy (PN) with the theme of "Effective Ocean Governance for Regional Partnerships and Stability". The Symposium was conducted over a period of two days consisting of the 'Principals-only session' held on Tuesday 26 October 2021 and the 'Plenary session' on Wednesday 27 October 2021 with First Admiral Spry bin Haji Serudi @ Haji Seruji, Commander of the Royal Brunei Navy and Commander Haji Edy Jofren bin PDP DP Haji Jalil, Acting Chief of Staff of the Royal Brunei Navy attending as the representatives of the Royal Brunei Navy.

A total of 28 navies participated this year's virtual WPNS consisting of 20 WPNS members: Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, USA and Vietnam, and 8 observer nations: Bangladesh, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom.

This year's WPNS welcomed the Republic of Fiji Navy as a new member of WPNS and deliberated on other administrative issues of WPNS including commitment to host future WPNS, its annual workshops and WPNS-related activities. The Plenary session further delved into issues of amendments and ratification relating to the WPNS Business Charter, Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) considering the advent of unmanned aerial systems including other administrative matters of WPNS-related activities.

The 17^th WPNS was finally concluded by the handing over to Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) as the host for the 18^th WPNS where Admiral Hiroshi Yamamura expressed his gratitude to PN for successful conduct of the 17^th WPNS and announced the theme for the 18^th WPNS: "Free and Open Ocean for the Next Generation" and invited fellow WPNS members to participate in the International Fleet Review in conjunction with the 18^th WPNS in Yokohama, Japan in November 2022.

The Royal Brunei Navy is committed to enhancing multilateral ties with her partner navies in an effort to ensure regional peace and stability whilst building confidence and mutual trust. The Royal Brunei Navy looks forward to actively participate in future events as a catalysts towards those ends.