RMN Geared To Be Ions Permanent Member - Malaysian Armed Forces Chief

LUMUT (Perak, Malaysia), Nov 29 (Bernama) -- The Chiefs of the Armed Forces Committee have agreed to engage the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) as a permanent member of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) said Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) chief General Dr Zulkifeli Mohd Zain. He said the agreement would further strengthen cooperation networks between the RMN and the armed forces of littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region. "Previously RMN was only an observer so the decision by the Chiefs of the Armed Forces Committee to make RMN a permanent member of IONS is something to be proud of. "As an IONS member, the navy can use it as a platform to further boost military and defence coordination in particular between the navies of countries along the Indian Ocean shoreline," he said in a press conference here today. Earlier, he was feted in an Appreciation Parade of Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) at the Lumut RMN Base here. Some 23 officers and 878 staff from 12 RMN contingents participated in the parade led by commander Azmin Zar Abdul Rashid. Zulkifeli said the board of ministers would have to approve the agreement which was expected to be tabled soon. "We are already a permanent member of Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) and we will next wait for the ministerial approval to be a member of IONS soon," he said. Currently IONS consists of 26 countries among them United Kingdom, Oman, France and India, while four countries including Malaysia, Japan and China are observers. --BERNAMA