| James Kon |
THE Deputy Minister of Defence, First Admiral (Rtd) Dato Seri Pahlawan Abdul Aziz bin Haji Mohd Tamit, on Sunday attended the United States-Asean meeting at the 2017 Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
The Shangri-La Dialogue is Asia’s premier defence summit, which will see defence ministers and delegates from over 50 countries exchanging views and discussing collective coordination and cooperation efforts to address regional security challenges.
Sunday’s meeting was hosted by James Mattis, the United States Secretary of Defence, and Ricardo A David Jr, the Undersecretary of Defence, Republic of the Philippines.
Attended by the defence ministers, deputy defence ministers and senior defence officials of Asean member countries, the meeting provided the opportunity for the Asean defence officials to collectively meet Secretary of Defence Mattis for the first time in the region since his appointment as the 26th US Secretary of Defence on January 20, 2017.
The Deputy Minister of Defence, First Admiral (Rtd) Dato Seri Pahlawan Abdul Aziz bin Haji Mohd Tamit, shakes hands with the United States Secretary of Defence, James Mattis. – PHOTOS: MINDEF
The Deputy Minister and US Secretary of Defence in a group photo with the Asean Ministers of Defence, deputies and senior officials during the US-Asean Meeting at the Shangri-La Dialogue 2017 in Singapore
The meeting was a testimony to the US government’s continued efforts to further build upon the longstanding relationships and solid frameworks of cooperation between the United States and Asean countries.
This year also marks the 40th anniversary of Asean-US relations.
Since becoming a dialogue partner in 1977, the United States has actively pursued various cooperative initiatives – both bilateral and multilateral – with Asean countries through capacity-building programmes, provision of assistance as well as information-sharing activities.
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