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Delegates at the opening ceremony |
Senior Captain Nguyen Van Ngan, Deputy Chief of Staff of Naval Region 4 of the Vietnam People’s Navy and head of the Vietnamese delegation, and Commander Ma Nguyen Thanh, Frigate 015-Tran Hung Dao’s Captain attended the event.
In his opening speech, Brigadier General Edwin E. Amadar, Commander of Fleet-Marine Ready Force of the Philippine Navy, emphasized the importance of AMNEX-2 to ASEAN member countries. He said that the event is an opportunity for participating countries to actualize common commitment and foster coordination to respond to security challenges at sea.
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Senior Captain Nguyen Van Ngan (center) talking with a representative of Laos |
Brigadier General Edwin E Amadar thanked ASEAN navies for joining the event and believed that their active participation in the exercise would contribute to promoting cooperation and bringing about success to this event as well as to the cooperative relationship among ASEAN countries in the future.
At the event, Colonel Vincent J Sibala, Deputy Commander of Operational Units of the Fleet-Marine Ready Force and head of the organizing board, welcomed ASEAN navies to AMNEX-2 and affirmed that the upcoming exercise would be an opportunity for participating navies to learn from one another. In the context of growing common maritime security challenges, ASEAN countries should effectively take advantage of AMNEX-2 to act together, cooperate, strengthen their response capability, and enhance their professional competence.
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Brigadier General Edwin E Amadar speaking at the event |
AMNEX-2 is held to promote three main pillars of interoperability, responsiveness, and readiness to address the common concerns of countries sharing a maritime border.
Answering Vietnamese reporter’s questions, Brigadier General Edwin E Amadar affirmed that the Philippines highly appreciates Vietnam and ASEAN countries’ participation in the exercise and wishes to work with Vietnam and other countries in the region to enhance interoperability, readiness, and collaboration to respond to challenges.
Talking with the press on the sidelines of the event, captains of participating ships wished that through AMNEX-2, ASEAN navies will strengthen good friendship, mutual understanding, interoperability, and cohesion for peace, cooperation, and stability in the region.
The second edition of AMNEX sees the participation of ships from the host Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Brunei. In the sea phase on May 13 and 14, the ships conduct different contents, including checking communication; formation for aerial photography; maritime search and rescue; deciphering; light communication; maneuvering at night in formation; helicopter landing; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; maritime containment.
Reported by My Hanh (from the Philippines)
Translated by Tran Hoai