Rear Admiral Pham Ngoc Minh, Deputy Commander of the Naval High Command and Chief of Staff of the Navy Service, is joining almost 100 delegates from 20 countries in the 13 th Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Addressing the opening session, Malaysian Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi underscored the significance of the symposium in promoting relationship and trust among the navies and discussing maritime issues of mutual concern, cooperation initiatives and regional maritime security.

The minister said WPNS has become an important forum for navy dialogues and maritime activities, contributing greatly to building trust and developing friendship and cooperation among its member nations.

Highlighting globalisation-stemmed challenges, he called for closer cooperation among the navies to ensure peace, security and stability in the region.

The Sept. 25-26 conference, themed “Enhancing interoperability and professional cooperation”, discussed the application of the code for unalerted encounters at sea (CUES), WPNS disaster response operations, a report of the environmental working group, updates of WPNS website and maritime security and regional cooperation forum.

The delegates also touched upon humanitarian aid, anti-terrorism, military medical and peacekeeping activities and the approval of Peru to become a WPNS member.-VNA