US, SG, PH, MY, ID naval forces leaders meet

From Update.Ph (Mar 23): US, SG, PH, MY, ID naval forces leaders meet  

Naval forces leaders from United States 7th Fleet, Republic of Singapore Navy, Royal Malaysian Navy, Philippine Navy and Indonesian Navy gathered aboard the US 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) in Singapore for a professional exchange of ideas to discuss operational topics March 19 and 20.

US 7th Fleet said the meeting was designed for the participating Indo-Asia-Pacific navies to share knowledge and discuss lessons learned within the region.

“During a 7th Fleet-hosted Southeast Asian Fleet Commander’s Roundtable, senior navy leaders from the five nations had professional dialogues on various maritime issues such as multilateral exercises, freedom of navigation operations and maritime law, rules and norms. They also discussed ways to increase theater security cooperation through multilateral military interactions,” US 7th Fleet added.

“From a 7th Fleet point of view, I really want to train together, I really believe in multilateralism,” said Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, commander of U.S. 7th Fleet. “I think it’s very important for us to operate very closely in exercises with navies in this region. That will only make us stronger, and will enable us to help with security, not only for man-made issues, but for natural disasters as well.”

http://www.update.ph/2016/03/us-sg-ph-my-id-naval-forces-leaders-meet/3526