DWDD: AFP Concludes 4th ASEAN Peacekeeping Center Network Meeting

From DWDD AFP Civil Relations Service Radio Website (Oct 17): AFP Concludes 4th ASEAN Peacekeeping Center Network Meeting

CAMP GENERAL EMILIO AGUINALDO, Quezon City – The 3-day 4th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Peacekeeping Center Network (APCN) meeting came to a close with a firmer resolve to advance a linkage of stronger, more cohesive ASEAN peacekeepers, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Public Affairs Office Marine Colonel Edgard Arevalo announced Friday, 14 October 2016.

 Delfin Lorenzana, the Secretary of Defense of the host country, the Philippines, was the Guest of Honor and Speaker in the closing ceremony held 13 October 2016 at Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria in Ortigas, Pasig City.

The AFP Peacekeeping Operations Center (AFPPKOC) led by its Commanding Officer Marine Colonel Eugenio V. Hernandez was Chair in this year’s APCN meeting with the theme “Moving forward to achieve the APCN Mid-Term and Long-Term Plans”.

Significant outcomes from last year’s 3rd APCN meeting in Pnom Penh were revisited and discussed in the meeting. In the open forum where best practices and experiences were shared, the delegates sounded the call for an ASEAN field training exercise centered on strengthening humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.

The conference attended by 50 delegates from all ASEAN Member States raised the need to establish UN-standard Civil-Military Operations skills and elevate the level of expertise in a peacekeeping environment.

The matter of synchronization of peacekeeping operations training on and the procurement of a deployable field hospital under UN standards for member nations, were also discussed. Thailand representative Major Chatesupa Pawongpon, for his part, recommended the opening of the UN Staff Officer Course training to other ASEAN member states.

“The meeting was largely a success,” said Colonel Hernandez. “Much have been discussed for the attainment of mid-term and long-term plans for the peacekeeping operations in the region,” he added as he turned over the Chairmanship of the 5th APCN to his counterpart Colonel Adityawarman, Commandant of the Indonesia National Defence Force Peacekeeping Center, which will host the meeting next year.

In his address to the delegates during the Closing Ceremony, Secretary Lorenzana expressed his gratitude to the participants for their work in the APCN meeting.

“This manifests the commencement of the APCN’s medium-term plans for establishing standard operating procedures (SOPs), exchanging of expertise and visits, and developing common peacekeeping training operations and best practices manual,” Secretary Lorenzana said.

The Secretary added that the outcomes of this 4th APCN are consistent with the action lines that were identified in the ADMM Three Year Work Programme (2014-2016), which includes the promotion of the ASEAN cooperation through each member’s peacekeeping centers and updating the region’s peacekeeping capability profile.

This peacekeeping capability profile was first attempted to be developed when the Philippines hosted an ADMM-Plus Regional Peacekeeping Operations Capability Assessment Workshop in 2012.

The APCN was conceived and established through a Concept Paper adopted in the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting in May 2011. Its purpose is to facilitate existing and future peacekeeping centers of ASEAN respective countries to conduct joint planning and training and experience exchange.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Public Affairs Office Colonel Arevalo meanwhile claims that on matters of providing forces to help keep the peace, “the Philippines is looked up to with much respect. Not only because it had been a primary source of peacekeepers not only in the region but also in the world. It is also because Filipino Peacekeepers have distinguished themselves in that field noting their gallant stand against Syrian rebels in Golan Heights in August 2014.”

“The AFP has been a significant force contributor in the different UN peacekeeping missions worldwide. This meeting has been an important avenue in sharing our years of experience as a peacekeeping force and in promoting an ASEAN region highly capable and effective in UN peacekeeping missions,” AFP Chief of Staff General Ricardo R Visaya said.

http://dwdd.com.ph/2016/10/17/afp-concludes-4th-asean-peacekeeping-center-network-meeting/