Chiefs of Army Staff (COAs) and military leaders of 29 Armies across the Pacific theater who gathered in Auckland, New Zealand for the biennial 8th Pacific Armies Chiefs Conference (PACC) and the 37th Pacific Armies Management Seminar (PAMS) formally ended their deliberations with separate multilateral, bilateral and syndicate sessions at Langham Hotel on Wednesday (11).
The theme for the conference was ‘The Sum is Greater Than the Parts: 21st Century Peace Operations in a UN Context’. Unique to this year’s conference, the largest annual gathering of land power senior military leadership in the Asia-Pacific Region was the introduction of a Senior Enlisted Leader Programme.
The final sessions focused on ‘Sharing the Future Peace Operations Space and Maximizing the Land Forces Input’ with parallel presentations before those Army Chiefs, including Sri Lanka’s Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Daya Ratnayake, commenced interactive bilateral meetings with COAs of Singapore, Bangladesh and India’s Vice Chief of Army Staff.
These bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the main sessions discussed matters of mutual interest and cooperation between respective Armies and explored possibilities for further strengthening the existing relations in terms of training, exchange of programmes, etc.
Major General Ravinder Singh, Chief of Army-Singapore Army, General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan, Chief of Army Staff-Bangladesh and Lieutenant General S.K. Singh, Vice Chief of Army Staff-Indian Army were among those who met Lieutenant General Daya Ratnayake on Tuesday (10) afternoon.
Prior to the sessions, Lieutenant General Ratnayake had the privilege of exchanging views with General Raymond T. Odierno, Chief of Staff of the US Army, Lieutenant General Pawan Pande, Chief of Army Staff, Nepal and Mr Aruna Abeygunasekara, Consul for Sri Lanka.
Exchange of mementos as well as posing for photos during these meetings added further significance.
New Zealand’s Chief of Army and the Chief of Staff, US Army serve as the co-hosts for the PACC where multilateral sessions are to emphasize ‘advancing unity of effort in peace keeping operation’, ‘duty of care to our greatest UN contribution – our people’, ‘the challenges for land forces in support of peace keeping operation,’ and ‘sharing the future peace operations space and maximizing the land forces input’ during the four-day (Sept 9 - 12) conference.
Lieutenant General Daya Ratnayake, representing Sri Lanka Army is accompanied by Major General Boniface Perera, Commander, Security Force Headquarters - Wanni and another officer. This is the first overseas assignment Lieutenant General Ratnayake is attending after he assumed office as 20th Commander of the Army on 1 August 2013.
The PACC provides a forum for regional Chiefs of Army (COAs) to exchange views, establish, enhance interpersonal relationships and foster security cooperation and enables interactive sessions with the attendees of the ongoing 37th Pacific Armies Management Seminar (PAMS) which will be inaugurated around the same time and focus on a combination of in-depth discussions.
The shared ceremonial inauguration of the PACC and PAMS sessions got underway Monday (9) morning with the opening addresses, made by US Chief of Staff General Raymond T. Odierno and New Zealand’s Chief of Army, Major General Arthur David Gawn.
General Vincent K Brooks, US Army Pacific Commanding General and Brigadier General Peter Kelly, Deputy Chief of Staff, New Zealand, spoke during the inaugural PACC/PAMS opening on Monday (9). The US Army and the New Zealand Army co-hosted this three-day long conference.
The PACC/PAMS conference arrangements date back to 1986 and have proven records as valuable contributors to dialogue, cooperation and transparency in the service of regional stability and multi-literalism.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
