U.S. Ambassador Richard E. Hecklinger speaks at the symposium’s opening ceremony.

The theme of this interactive symposium focused on building peace operations capabilities in Southeast Asia. Enhancing the readiness of each participating nation's armed forces in conducting peace operations was one of the major purposes for the symposium.

It was also designed to increase interoperability between the armed forces, develop regional capability for timely and effective response to crises in the region and emphasize rules of engagement under international laws, treaties and conventions. The training and discussion groups were led by subject matter experts and peace operations trainers.

Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States were joined by observers from Bangladesh, Canada, Japan, Madagascar, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, and Tonga.

One of the facilitators of the symposium, Mr. Peter Leentjes, from the Education and Training section of the Honolulu-based Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, explained, "The peace operations program is a series of seminars, exercises and games designed to enhance peace operations capabilities. The seminars will discuss concepts, ideas, training and challenges, while the exercises and games will develop operational capacities.

The symposium successfully allowed regional countries to share in developing peace operations capabilities during syndicate discussion groups.

"This symposium was one in a series of the USCINCPAC’s (U.S. Commander in Chief, Pacific) engagement strategy to get the countries in the region to work and operate more closely together," Mr. Leentjes said. "Asia-Pacific is a complex and fascinating region. It was good to hear reality from each nation’s perspective.

"We’ve done some super work at this symposium and raised some particularly difficult issues that need to be discussed between the countries," he said. "Engagement isn’t accomplished in one day. We will continue to push forward with the gains made here and prepare for the next conference, scheduled to be held in Bangladesh later this year.

"The first seminar took place in Manila, the Philippines, earlier this year," Leentjes said. "Twenty-four countries participated in that conference which presented the concepts and options for peace operations to senior Asia-Pacific leaders."

Ambassador Hecklinger summed up the week-long symposium experience by explaining, "This symposium is a good opportunity for you to share experiences with each other about your national approaches to peace operations and to build the personal network that will be so valuable should you find yourselves one day working side by side on behalf of the United Nations, trying to bring peace to a troubled area."

More information on peacekeeping symposiums can be found at the Center of Excellence web site at http://coe-dmha.org.