17 October 2022
Welcome Remarks by Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, Executive Deputy Chairman, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, at the 23rd Asia Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO 2022)
Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Manpower, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, Honourable Guests, Distinguished Speakers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), I welcome you to the 23rd Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers, or APPSMO in short. Since its inauguration in 1999, APPSMO has grown in scale and prominence. On behalf of RSIS, I would like to thank everyone who have made this possible.
The vision of APPSMO is to bring together the senior military officers and defence experts in an academic setting. APPSMO enables them to share knowledge about military and security developments of professional interest. Hopefully, they establish personal relationships and engage each other to contribute to regional peace and stability.
In APPSMO, we have lectures on matters of international relations and strategic studies by established experts, renowned academics and prominent practitioners. We aim for informal discussions on these topics to further facilitate dialogue about defence and security-related issues. Our social and networking events accelerate such interaction and relationships in a relaxed atmosphere.
We hope that through these activities, we create a spirit of camaraderie to build and reinforce trust and confidence among the participants of APPSMO.
After close to three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the first physical APPSMO following last year’s done in a virtual setting over Zoom. A big thanks to everyone who made the effort to come down to Singapore for APPSMO, despite pandemic uncertainties just a few months before, and current Covid challenges to travel, [in jest] including sold-out flights.
This year’s theme, “The Return of Conventional War?” is set amidst the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war. We want to explore and discuss Asia-Pacific stability in light of such a conflict. This is on top of all the other continuing challenges such as non-traditional security threats or climate change. These remain pertinent to not just the Asia-Pacific but all over the world.
During APPSMO, a prominent line-up of scholars, practitioners and policymakers will explore and discuss how strategic planning and defence relations can be done well in order to maintain Asia-Pacific stability. Through panel sessions and a Distinguished Lecture, our speakers will discuss topics such as:
- Conventional war
- Peace and security
- Environmental threats
- Cyber conflict, and
- Defence cooperation or defence diplomacy
In addition, we are fortunate to have Senior Minister of State, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, who will deliver the Keynote Address.
I urge all our delegates to participate actively in the APPSMO panels and discussions. Please ask the tough questions related to your work during the question-and-answer sessions. Also, work as a syndicate to gain as much as possible from APPSMO. Importantly, I encourage you to get to know as many of your counterparts as possible, to build friendships and camaraderie that will serve you in good stead in your current and future appointments.
Thank you.
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