Welcome

The Center of Excellence in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance, in collaboration with the United Nations, are proud to bring the Asia-Pacific Enhanced Peace Operations Contingency Planning Seminar, Bangkok, Thailand, June 21 - 25, 2004.

Keynote Speaker
General Boonsrang Niumpradit, Chief Of Joint Staff, RTARFS

General MacInnis, Brigadier Hisne, Colonel Dibrell, Colonel Leentjes, distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to Bangkok, Thailand. I remembered well my first talk to COE’s Seminar last year on the topic Mission Command & Control. The topic this year is Peace Operations Contingency Planning which is probably more complicated and more challenging than the first. I have seen the progresses and contributions COE has made years after years. This is great!

The fact that, through the series of seminars, we, the Asia-Pacific countries, have been greatly benefited from the increasing knowledge in peace operations, is only one side of the coin. The other side is that we, through the seminar like this, have met friends from within our region which make it possible for us to learn from each other and understand better on what is going on around us and how to live peacefully and securely together. I think this is very important.

For Thailand, peacekeeping is rather new even though we had joined the first UN authorized ‘Blue Beret’ operation in the Korean War in early1950s. However, after the Cold War, from 1991 onwards, the Royal Thai Armed Forces has joined at least seven majors operations both the UN peacekeeping and coalition operations. The increasing participation in the last decade does not only reflects our military readiness but also our policy towards the strengthening of regional and global peace and security. I think everyone will agree that this is not enough to keep ourselves secured and to keep the world at peace as we have entered an era of new threats at the moment. All of you will recognize that today the UN is requesting more peacekeepers than ever to be deployed in every continent all over the world. Indeed, today we are living in a very fragile world where peace and security is at stake.

I agree that ‘the globalized nature of the world today makes it difficult for any nation single-handedly to provide for its own security- we are simply too interconnected and very interindependent. We have to change with the times, anticipating the future needs and building the cooperation and flexibility necessary to respond quickly to crisis.’ This is to trigger your thoughts on how the complex problems give rise to complex operations such as today’s War on Terror, where the enemy is unknown, the weapon is terror and the ‘front’ may turn out to be in our own back yard. How can we deal with this?

But I think we must keep our determination strong. No matter how complicated the problems is, we have to understand it and we have to resolve it, no matter how tough it might be. I think the forum like the seminar today will do a work of getting us to a better understanding of the problem and how to deal with it timely and effectively.

Planning military operations in these days will be more complicated than in the past as the operations can drastically have effects on all spectrums at global scale. Military planner needs to take into considerations legal issues, human rights issues, and other issues that were of less significance in the last decade.

The challenges for those of you here today in planning and operations is that the decisions you reach must reflect inclusion of the citizens who will be most affected by your work. We have to bear in minds all the times the winning ‘hearts and minds’ of the populations, if what we want is a sustainable victory.

In welcoming you all to Bangkok today, I wish you a happy stay which I trust you will have the opportunity to enjoy the city. I also wish you all a success. I think now it is an appropriate time to declare the Seminar open. Thank you and good luck.

Opening Remarks
COL Jack Dibrell, JUSMAGTHAI

General Boonsrang Niumpradit, Major General John Arch MacInnis, Brigadier General Jamal Hisne, distinguished subject matter experts, participants and guests, ladies and gentlemen: It is my distinct pleasure and honor, on behalf of US Pacific Command, to welcome you to the Asia Pacific Enhanced Peace Operations Contingency Planning Seminar. This seminar represents a unique and rare opportunity for nations to come together. At this time I wish to thank the Royal Thai Supreme Command Headquarters and their Peace Operations Center for their support in hosting us this week.

This seminar is the latest in a series of Peace Operations Seminars held since 2000 that are co-sponsored by host nations throughout the region, the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and US Pacific Command and its executing agent, the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. It is, in fact, the fourth event hosted by the Kingdom of Thailand.

Twenty-one nations are represented here today. This turnout presents each of you with an astounding opportunity for exchanging viewpoints, sharing knowledge, ideas, and experiences, and building the foundation for future friendships. There is no doubt in my mind that you will meet many of your fellow participants again. It may be at the scene of a complex contingency operation as part of a multinational force or as part of a United Nations mission. In addition to this new network, you will take back to your peers, superiors and subordinates, as well as your colleagues in civilian organizations, knowledge that can be shared to build capacities even further, beyond the time and physical limitations of this seminar. The content team, led by Mr. Peter Leentjes, has worked hard to challenge you this week, and you can surpass their efforts only by taking the materials they have prepared for you and the presentations that they will be giving to you, and working the issues as hard as possible, with an open mind. I know in the end you will find the work satisfying.

On behalf of the government of the Unites States, and the US Pacific Command, I wish you a profound and fruitful experience.

Thank you.

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