Navy chief tells military, state agencies:

‘Work as a team’

Rasika Somarathna

Navy Commander Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage on Friday urged closer collaboration between multinational military and state agencies and groups that would be the first to respond to calamities and added that this will help improve both disaster preparedness and assistance.

“Our experiences in the face of natural calamities and disasters clearly indicate the necessity for multinational assistance and it is through initiatives like these we can operate with confidence and cooperation, yielding results to the best of expectations,” he said in his address at the closing ceremony of the 17th Multi-National Force Standing Operating Procedures (MNF SOP) at Hotel Galadari.

The Navy Commander was the Chief Guest at the five day workshop held from June 17-21 with the participation of high ranking military personnel from 17 countries in the Asia Pacific region.

The Commander said better collaboration will enable allies and partner nations to assist each other in preparing for and dealing with the consequences of crisis or disaster better.

“The work groups that had worked for the last few days have tremendous potentials for cooperation and engagements. Out of these work groups, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief remains close to our hearts due to the specific nature of engagements we have had through our experiences,” he said.

He said international engagements such as these will benefit the host country, by way of presenting an opportunity to assess ground realities, capacities and capabilities. The workshop was co-hosted by the Defence Ministry and the United States Pacific Command.

This prestigious military conclave saw military representatives from Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand, United States, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka.

They deliberated on topics related to facing small scale contingencies in the Asia Pacific region.

The first MNF Standing Operating Procedures Workshop was held in Hawaii in March 2002 and the last work shop was held in Mongolia on June 2012 with representatives from 17 countries taking part.