REGIONAL SECURITY REMAINS A PRIORITY FOR FPDA

At the 13th Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) Defence Chiefs' Conference hosted by Singapore at the Marina Mandarin Hotel on 14 Oct, the defence chiefs reaffirmed their commitment to the FPDA, and recognised the important role that the FPDA plays in enhancing regional security.

They also issued the FPDA Exercise Concept Directive which set the guidelines for the professional development and training directions of large-scale FPDA field training and command post exercises.

The conference, the highest military professional forum of the FPDA, serves as an important platform for dialogue and the exchange of views among the defence chiefs of the FPDA member countries - Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

Singapore's Chief of Defence Force (CDF) Lieutenant-General (LG) Neo Kian Hong, Australia's CDF Air Chief Marshal Allan Grant Houston, Malaysia's CDF General (GEN) Tan Sri Dato' Sri Azizan bin Ariffin, New Zealand's CDF LG Jeremiah Mateparae, and the United Kingdom's Chief of the Defence Staff (Designate) GEN Sir David Richards also discussed developments in regional security and ways to achieve greater professionalism in future FPDA exercises and activities.

Said LG Neo who chaired the conference: "The conduct of regular FPDA exercises and activities have helped to strengthen military cooperation and improve interoperability among the FPDA defence forces. They have also helped to enhance mutual understanding and foster friendships among the personnel of the FPDA forces."

He added: "We have evolved from just purely an air defence exercise over the years to air and maritime exercises and now, we also have a land component in the exercise...we've been progressing so it has become more joint and more combined in the exercise for the conventional portion and we've also updated our capabilities and capacity filling using the non-conventional areas including maritime security as well as humanitarian and disaster relief exercises to be part of it."

Echoing his views was GEN Richards, who said: "The FPDA is evolving in a very impressive manner. All the new threats that are available in the world are clearly being very actively pursued within the organisation - that's the key to its continuing relevance and success."

Following the conference, the Defence Chiefs called on Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean at the Ministry of Defence.

The defence chiefs will be attending the opening of Exercise Bersama Padu on 15 Oct at Butterworth Air Base, Penang, Malaysia. The exercise will involve 13 ships and 63 aircraft from the five FPDA countries and will conclude on 29 Oct.