INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE, Darling Harbour Sydney, 08-10 October 2019 - 41 Navies all around the world gathered for the Seapower Conference that was themed ‘The Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain in the 21st Century – The Spectrum of Influence’ in Sydney, Australia. The three – day conference was hosted by Vice Admiral Michael Noonan, The Chief of Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The conference for this year focused on three main areas; Navy’s Role in the region, Navy involvement with industries and lastly enduring links to Australia’s maritime past. Representing the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN) was First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Haji Othman bin Haji Suhaili @ Suhaily, RBN, Commander of RBN.
The highlight of the conference was the opening ceremony alongside with keynote speech given by Senator The Honourable Linda Reynolds, Australia’s Minister of Defence. She stated that “our region is anxious as it goes through the most significant geopolitical change since the Second World War, which is why in my first month as Minister for Defence, I laid out the following three priorities to Defence’s senior leaders that relate to strategy, capability and transformation”.
Incorporated with the conference was a series of lectures and presentations on maritime topics presented by renowned speakers. Concurrently organized was the International Maritime Exposition Pacific Seapower showcasing the latest defence equipment by participating defence industries. It is envisaged that through the interactions made in the conference and exposition, RBN will enhance its maritime collaborative operations in countering piracy, providing disaster relief and humanitarian assistance (HADR) and all other non – traditional threats.
In addition to conference, RBN took this opportunity to conduct a series of bi-lateral meetings and coordination to further strengthened the already strong relationship. Bi-lateral meetings conducted includes firstly, Vice Admiral Michael Noonan, Chief of RAN, secondly Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, Chief of the Naval Staff ,Pakistan Navy (PN), thirdly Vice Admiral William R. Merz, Commander US Seventh Fleet, United States Navy and lastly, Rear Admiral Aaron Beng, Fleet Commander, Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN)
