Philippine Navy to Hold Joint Maritime Exercises with Vietnamese, Thai Navies

According to Lieutenant Colonel Omar Tonsay, the Philippine Navy is about to host joint maritime exercises with Vietnamese and Thai navies, with the aim of fortifying mutual cooperation.

The said cooperation should include exchange of shipbuilding expertise and skills, exchange of visits, along with possibilities for education and training of personnel.

On March 11-14 Philippine Navy delegation, headed by Vice Admiral Alexander Pama visited Vietnam, where the Philippine Navy representatives were acquainted with the level of technological development of Vietnamese navy. This included a presentation of shipbuilding possibilities, especially that of warships and military vessels. In addition, the delegation also toured the Naval Shipyard X46 and the Hai Long Shipbuilding Co.

“The visit paved the way for continued Staff to Staff Talks and exchange of visits between the Philippine Navy and VPN, which is hoped to sustain the active engagements of the Philippine Navy and the VPN and effectively address maritime security issues in common maritime domains,” Tonsay pointed out.

Having signed standard operating procedure regarding interactions among Philippine and Vietnamese navies’ personnel in the vicinity of Southeast Cay and the Northeast Cay Island with Vice Admiral Alexander Pama, VPN’s commander in chief, Admiral Nguyen Van Hien, offered to host the first “Navy to Navy Talks” with the Philippines in Vietnam in the last quarter of 2012.

The counterparts also tabled a possibility of setting up a communication hotline between the operations centres of the Philippine Navy and the Vietnam People’s Navy (VPN), the priority being search-and-rescue operations.

The visit to Vietnam was followed by a visit to the Thai Ministry of Defence, on March 14-17 where the Philippine Navy delegation explored cooperation possibilities with the Royal Thai Navy (RTN),  The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports.

[mappress]
Naval Today Staff , March 28, 2012;