Indonesia and Singapore have agreed to establish an annual defence forum, to strengthen their military partnership, in order to support stability in the Southeast Asia region, Indonesian Defence Minister, Prabowo Subianto, said yesterday.

Subianto said that, the forum for defence partnership committee, which would have a military sub-committee in it, was expected to be a place for both countries to further discuss military cooperation in various fields, and to create new areas of cooperation.

The plan was conveyed yesterday during a visit by Singapore’s Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant-General Melvyn Ong to Jakarta, during his close-door meeting with Subianto.

“Indonesia fully supports the strengthening of our close military cooperation with Singapore that we have built, based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit and full respect for each country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as, international laws,” Subianto noted.

He also said, the military partnership between the two nations has become more significant, after Indonesia ratified last Dec, the Defence Cooperation Agreement between Indonesia and Singapore, a deal which aims to boost both countries’ defence capabilities through security dialogues, intelligence sharing, scientific cooperation and joint military exercises.

Source: NAM News Network