'USNS Fall River' Makes Goodwill Visit For Pacific Partnership 2017

PORT KLANG (Selangor, Malaysia) April 11 (Bernama) -- United States Navy expeditionary fast transport ship, 'USNS Fall River' will dock here until Wednesday to make a goodwill visit as part of the Pacific Partnership 2017 (PP17) exercise. The exercise is an annual multilateral military cooperation event involving Malaysia, United States (US), Australia, South Korea and Japan to enhance mutual understanding among the countries and exchange experiences in the form of training. The 'USNS Fall River' arrived at the Boustead Cruise Centre here about 2pm last Saturday, with an estimated 104 crew comprising civillian mariners, military doctors, civil engineers and multi-service support staff who will engage side-by-side with Malaysian subject matter experts. In the opening ceremony of the PP17 excercise on the ship, Malaysia Joint Forces Commander, Lieutenant-General Fadhil Mokhtar said the broad scope of the excercise would continuosly benefit Malaysia's military sectors, local community and tighten the countries' relations. "Until April 22, PP17 will be involved in exercises at Kuching in Sarawak and in Kuantan, Pahang. It will focus on natural disaster training, with regard to Human Assistance Disaster Relief (HADR). "With PP17, we continue to share our experiences and expertise which later will build more of our confidence and foundation in facing and handling disasters," he said. PP17 Mission Commander, Captain Stanfield Chien said the exercise was an effective event for Malaysia and the US to continue establishing the response in HADR. "We are leveraging on the excercise that we had done last year and this year, we are looking into medical engagement," he said. Beginning last Saturday, PP17 started with a number of activities such as HADR symposium, community relations project and table top exercise involving the Malaysia National Defence University and Tuanku Mizan Armed Forces Hospital. The 'USNS Fall River' will continue the PP17 engagement to Kuching and Kuantan. The ship will also make a stop at Vietnam before ending the excercise mission. -- BERNAMA