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Lanka floods: International defence conference calls for rapid response mechanism
View(s):By Ameen Izzadeen  in Singapore
The need for an international rapid response mechanism was stressed at an international defence conference yesterday in Singapore, with Sri Lanka’s flood catastrophe being cited as an example.
Addressing the annual Shangri-La Defence Dialogue, Malaysia’s Defence Minister Hishamuddin Tun Hussein said Sri Lanka’s recent floods cried out for global cooperation in responding rapidly to sudden natural disasters. Common humanitarian objectives should bind world nations through military diplomacy, he said, adding that the armed forces should be engaged in more and more disaster response operations. “Helping one person in Sri Lanka cannot change the world, but for that one person the help he receives in times of disaster means the world,” Mr. Shamsudeen told the conference attended by 11 defence ministers, including US Defence Secretary James Mattis. Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull delivered the keynote address on Friday. Also addressing the need for greater global efforts in ensuring climate security was Canada’s Defence Minister Harji Singh Sajjan.He said Canada was working together with affected countries and was ready to deploy disaster response teams.
General Zubair Mahmoud Hayat, chairman of Pakistan’s Joint Chief of Staff committee said Pakistan was promoting multilateral cooperation to overcome global challenges, including natural disasters. He said a Pakistani naval ship was taking part in rescue operations in Sri Lanka. The conference which ends today mainly focused on the tensions in the Korean Peninsula, the South China Sea, and international terrorism.