Hanoi, indomaritim.com – The former Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police Chiefs and high-ranking officials of the Ministry of defense of Southeast Asian countries who are members of the Pinnacle club of ASEAN (Pinnacle Club) held an annual meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, August 16-19, 2023.
Chief of staff of the Navy period 2012-2015, Admiral (Ret) Prof. Dr. Marsetio who participated in the meeting to Indomaritim.com in Jakarta, Monday (21/8/2023) said the meeting was held after being delayed for approximately 3 years due to the Covid – 19 pandemic. Previously, the meeting was held in 2018 in Manila. Philippine President Duterte at that time received a courtesy call from the participants.
The Pinnacle Club member consists of former Chiefs of staff and police chiefs as well as retired military and security chiefs and other influencers related to the defence and security from all ASEAN countries. The purpose of Pinnacle Club is to build friendship between members in improving good relations between members and good relations between ASEAN countries based on the ASEAN Declaration of 1967.
Pinnacle Club of ASEAN was established in 2014 by, among others, General (Ret) Pehin Dato Haji Mohammad Haji Daud (Brunei Darussalam), General (Ret) Try Sutrisno (Indonesia), General (Ret) Hashim Mohd Ali (Malaysia), General (Ret) Fidel Ramos (Philippines), General (Ret) Winston Choo (Singapore), and General (Ret) Chavalit Yongchaiyudh (Thailand).
At the meeting in Hanoi 2023 the Indonesian delegation consisted of Admiral (Ret) Prof. Dr Marsetio, Air Marshal (Ret) Ida Bagus Putu Dunia, and Air Marshal (Ret) Chappy Hakim, as well as ambassador Major General (Ret) Sudrajat.
The annual gathering in addition to being a reunion event for the members also discussed many things related to efforts to develop inter-personal friendship as well as between ASEAN countries. Regularly the annual Gathering arena is filled with light presentations and casual discussions, sharing experiences between ASEAN countries.
Topics of discussion are more to the problems of social and humanitarian issues such as those related to natural disaster management and Search and Rescue activities. All of this is done to share experiences that have been done with the aim of facilitating the mechanism of assistance that will be provided between fellow ASEAN countries. e.g. dealing with natural disasters.
The point is to continue efforts to build mutual understanding and friendship between ASEAN countries towards a peaceful and prosperous region. Pinnacle Club does not discuss and analyze the politics and policies of each country.
The annual gathering in Hanoi this time featured several speakers from Vietnam, including the Foundation of Singapore and the Philippines in the discussion session on the second day. The topic that came up was about how the Veterans Association of Vietnam helps veteran members in business to overcome hunger and poverty.
The Indonesian delegation on that occasion outlined the importance of the Pinnacle Club of ASEAN to play an active role in supporting the Blue Economy program in order to make the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) participate in supporting the agreement on climate change (COP21), because the future of mankind is highly dependent on the outcome conferences such as COP21 which seek to reach a binding agreement so that the earth’s surface temperature does not rise.
Followed by the Philippine delegation sharing about how the process of natural disaster management that often occurs in their country, including the Foundation of Singapore explained about their participation, among others, in participating in running the Pinnacle Club organization.
At the end of the event at the closing session Major General (Ret) Goh Yong Siang Chairman Stratagem Group announced the delivery of a donation of 100 million VND from Pinnacle Club of ASEAN for Friendship Village of Vietnam. Friendship Village is a residence built in 1992 by George Mizo a Vietnam War veteran from the United States.
The donation is part of Pinnacle Club’s activities in participating and collaborating on welfare aspects in this regard for Vietnam Veteran members. The donation was handed over by Major General (Ret) Goh Yong Siang and received directly by Sr Col Nguyen Thanh Long, Director of Vietnam Friendship Village.
At the annual gathering in Hanoi, in addition to the participants playing friendship golf together, they had visited Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, Vietnam War Museum and enjoying the unique show of Vietnamese culture, namely the Hanoi water puppet show.
Finally, in the closing session on the last day, a farewell dinner was held which presented music and art performances from Vietnam and other ASEAN member countries. The farewell ceremony was closed with the handover of memorials from the Veterans Association of Vietnam as well as between fellow delegations of participating countries. (Ist)
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