Conference to discuss defence collaboration

National
Members of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force shared the best practices and techniques during jungle survival training day with United States soldiers from the 130th engineer brigade, 8th theater sustainment command at the Goldie River Training Depot outside Port Moresby during a recent exercise Tamiok Strike 21. – Picture supplied

PAPUA New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) Commander Major-General Gilbert Toropo says the country needs support from international partners to maintain security in the region.
Maj-Gen Toropo said this before leaving for Hawaii on Friday to attend the 2021 Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defence conference hosted by the US Indo-Pacific Command from today to Wednesday.
The annual conference aims to bring together selected defence chiefs to discuss, promote and strengthen military-to-military ties and advance defence collaboration on security challenges within the Indo-Pacific region.
Maj-Gen Toropo said PNG would always work closely with other nations in the region and its neighbouring countries.
“PNGDF takes security seriously as it is critical in maintaining peace and stability in the region,” he said.
“The PNGDF is working closely with other military partners to promote and strengthen ties. Some security challenges are beyond our capacity to manage ourselves therefore such interactions are needed to maintain our mutual working relationship.
“The Indo-Pacific conference is an important part of the United States’ Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, and complements other US-sponsored seminars and defence collaboration programmes with regional allies and partners. These include exercises such as the recently completed exercise Tamiok Strike 21 based out of Port Moresby and Lae.”