SINGAPORE, Saturday, 30 May 2015 – The Deputy Permanent Secretary (Defence Policy and Development), Abu Sufian bin Haji Ali attended the 14th Asia Security Summit, The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, which was held from 29-31 May 2015.
The dialogue kick-started with an opening dinner on 29 May 2015 with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, His Excellency Lee Hsien Loong, presenting his keynote address during the dinner.
In his address, His Excellency highlighted the three common agenda of Shangri-La Dialogue, encompassing issues of balance of power, regional cooperation, and terrorism. His Excellency also concluded in his speech with optimism that the region will continue to be stable and urged ASEAN grouping to be an effective and relevant actor by becoming more closely integrated and cohesive.
The opening of the summit the next day saw the Secretary of Defense of the United States, Dr Ashton Carter addressing the First Plenary Session where he advocated a shared regional security architecture that is strong, capable, and connected enough to ensure that all Asia-Pacific people and countries have the opportunity to rise. In his address, he focused on the challenges to Asia-Pacific security and called for the enhancement of security capabilities of the regional security architecture, particularly on maritime security.
The delegates also had the opportunity to listen to remarks by high level defence officials from China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and the European Union, whereby the promotion of regional and international peace and security was stressed upon the adherence to the path of peaceful development and the commitment to promoting regional and international prosperity and stability.
The Shangri-La Dialogue is a useful platform for the defence top officials to express their points of view and engage in open and meaningful discussions on issues related to the peace, security and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. A wide-ranging issues confronting the international community, including global terrorism and human smuggling was exchanged and discussed during the forum. Intra-regional cooperative drives were also highlighted by the dialogue.
This year, more than 450 delegates representing over 30 countries, including institutions non-government entities such as universities, think tanks, the media and the private sector attended the dialogue.
The Deputy Permanent Secretary was accompanied by the Director of Intelligence and the Director of Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies.
At the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, the Deputy Permanent Secretary also had several bilateral calls, including with Deputy Secretary (Policy) of the Ministry of Defence, Singapore, Mr Keith Tan Kean Loong; and Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs of the Department of State, United States, Mr Puneet Talwar.