PADANG, Republic of Indonesia, Friday 14 April 2016 – First Admiral Pg Dato Seri Pahlawan Norazmi bin Pg Haji Muhammad, Commander of the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN) attended the 15th Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) in conjunction with the Indonesian Navy (IDN) International Fleet Review (IFR) and the 2nd Multilateral Naval Exercise KOMODO 2016 (MNEK) in Padang, Republic of Indonesia. The inaugural event was attended by 13 Chief of Navies and 22 Heads of Delegations from 35 navies, with a participation of 20 warships.
The event was officially launched by the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo. In his Opening Remarks, the President emphasized on the importance of military operations other than war in particular humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities. The President stressed that the activities of MNEK will strengthen navies multilateral capacities as well as enhancing naval diplomacy.
KDB DARUTTAQWA was amongst one of the foreign warships involved in the MNEK which was from the 12th to 16th April 2016. The exercise comprised of a Table Top Exercise (TTX), Command Post Exercise (CPX), and Field Training Exercise (FTX). The CPX is arranged in a manner to train the participants in Maritime Peace Keeping and Human Assistance and Disaster Relief operations.
The highlight of the main event was the WPNS series of regional symposium attended by Chief of Navies and Heads of Delegation. The 15th WPNS commenced with a keynote addressed by Admiral Ade Supandi, Chief of Staff Indonesian Navy. His keynote addressed the importance of exchange officers, exchange visits, and education or training cooperation amongst WPNS member countries would build trust and increase capacity in accordance with the developments in the current maritime security situation.
The WPNS aims to increase cooperation and the ability to operate together, as well as to build trust and confidence between Navies by providing a framework to enable the discussion of maritime issues of mutual interest, exchange of information, practice and demonstration of capabilities, and exchange of personnel. This year’s theme focuses on the “Maritime Partnership for Stability in Western Pacific Region”.
Additionally, the Commander of RBN had the privilege to hold talks with several Chiefs of Navies through scheduled bilateral meetings. The subsequent WPNS workshop will be hosted by the Chilean Navy in April 2017 and its Symposium to be hosted by the Republic of Korea Navy in Busan, South Korea 2018.
