Batam, Riau Islands (ANTARA News) – Australias participation in the Multilateral Naval Exercise Komodo 2014 in the Indonesian Riau Islands provinces waters has been cancelled, stated exercise director Commodore Amarulla Octavian.
“The cancellation follows the two countries agreement due to political problems,” he explained here on Thursday.
Initially, the Australian navy was invited and had agreed to participate in the joint exercise of the ASEAN countries, but somewhere along the way, the two countries agreed to cancel Australias participation, he remarked.
Although Australia will not participate in the exercise from March to April 2014, it plans to send a representative as an observer, he pointed out.
Australia representative Katja Blitz meanwhile stated through the Indonesian Navys foreign relations department that he was glad about his countrys involvement in the activity.
He added that he still awaits his governments political decision on the possibility of raising its status from a mere observer to a participant.
The Latma MNE Komodo 2014 has participation from 10 ASEAN countries namely Indonesia as the host, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and seven other countries namely India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the US, China and Russia.
The head of the Indonesian Navals information service, Commodore Untung Suropati, stated in general, that the MNE Komodo 2014 was aimed at increasing professionalism and readiness in the cooperation in handling natural disasters.
The MNE Komodo 2014 has the dimensions of national as well as regional interests namely increasing relations between ASEAN member countries and with non-ASEAN member countries, regional maritime security stability and capability of Indonesias disaster handling team especially the navy in multilateral operations.
The MNE Komodo 2014 will also provide strategic recommendations for the cooperation in the ASEAN Regional Forum for the handling of natural disasters in the region and facilitating harmonization of various national, regional and international protocols for disaster management and increasing international social communication capability as well as cooperation between soldiers of the Indonesian Navy soldiers and among the ASEAN and non-ASEAN countries.
Source: http://www.antaranews.com/