Abang Johari walks up the gangway to the USNS Fall River accompanied by Pacific Partnership mission commander Capt Stansfield Chien and other distinguished guests. — Jeffrey Mostapha
KUCHING: The United States Navy’s Pacific Partnership 2017 mission in Malaysia which began on April 14 (last Friday) with the arrival of the US Naval Ship (USNS) Fall River at Pending Port here concluded on a high note yesterday.
The closing ceremony for the Pacific Partnership Exercise 2017 was attended by Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg. US ambassador to Malaysia HE Kamala Shirin Lalkhdir, State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohammad Morshidi Abdul Ghani, Malaysia’s Joint Forces Command, commander Datuk Fazil Mukhtar, Eastern Field Command (EFC) commander Lt Gen Datuk Mohd Zaki Mokhtar, First Malaysian Infantry Division commander Major Gen Datuk Stephen Mundaw and Tasik Biru Assemblyman Dato Henry Harry Jinep.
Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted by the US Navy in the Indo-Asia-Pacific to enhance regional coordination among participating nations.
During the eight-day mission, US, Australian, Japanese, South Korean and Malaysian service members worked alongside in a series of community service and social responsibility projects that include humanitarian aid and disaster response (HA/DR) preparedness exercises, medical exchanges, civil engineering projects and community engagement events.
They conducted a range of social responsibility initiatives focusing on schools and community centres.
Meanwhile, the 7th Fleet Band named ‘Pipeline’ was in the spotlight when it performed in front of a huge crowd at Plaza Merdeka, Bau Civic Centre, Unimas and Damai Craftworld and Event Centre (DCEC).
As part of the final day proceedings of Pacific Partnership 2017, the closing ceremony was held at Pending Port premises.
The chief minister thanked the Pacific Partnership for choosing Sarawak as one of the venues to conduct its exercise.
“I am happy that (servicemen) both from the US and Malaysia are sharing noble values. You have done a lot of work on our shores; you have worked and assisted our schools; exchanged ideas on medical facilities and in serving the people while strengthening bilateral ties between the US and Malaysia – not only in field of military but also education.”
The closing ceremony followed by an evening reception was organised onboard the USNS Fall River.
The engagement marked Malaysia’s 12th year as a participant in Pacific Partnership and second year as a host nation.