AFP chief participates in 7th Indo Defense Expo and Forum

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 3): AFP chief participates in 7th Indo Defense Expo and Forum

In line with efforts to increase defense cooperation with its neighbors, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff Gen. Ricardo Visaya flew to Indonesia on Wednesday to participate to join the 7th Indo Defense Expo and Forum.

The event started on Thursday and will end on Saturday.

AFP public affairs office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo said the event will also feature a one-day high-level meeting of senior government and military officials from different participating countries.

Over 750 companies from countries including Germany, India, Italy, Australia, South Korea, France, Turkey, USA, UK, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Belarus, and Indonesia, among other are expected to join the exposition at Kemayoran in Central Jakarta.

The 7th Indo Defense Expo and Forum is a gathering of over 750 major and minor weapons manufacturers and is aimed at the development of military technologies and capabilities in the Southeast Asia region.

“General Visaya is expected to meet with his Indonesian counterpart, General Gatot Nurmantyo, and heads of delegations from East Timor, Malaysia, and Poland where they may discuss matters spanning security concerns like terrorism, drug trafficking, trafficking in persons and other transnational crimes,” Arevalo said.

Part of the delegation are the Defense Undersecretary for Finance and Material Raymund DV Elefante; Chief of Air Staff Major General Rozzano D Biguez; Col. Rommel P. Roldan, Director of Philippine Air Force’ Office of Special Studies; and their respective staff.

With the theme, “Bolstering Defense industry Cooperation: Achieving a Global Maritime Fulcrum and Secure World,” the expo will be held simultaneously with the 5th Indo Aerospace, 2nd Indo Helicopter, and 4th Indo Marine Expositions. Indonesia started hosting the bi-annual expo in 2004.

"We have a standing commitment to our soldiers and by extension to the Filipino people that we will exert all efforts to bolster our own military capabilities. With this exposition and different bilateral meetings we will conduct on the sidelines, we can expect to gain new insights and inputs on how to proceed in realizing our vision of fully capable Armed Forces,” Visaya stressed.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=936874