Gaining observer status at WPNS is a 'welcome development': Ambassador Masood Khalid

BEIJING: Ambassador Masood Khalid said on Wednesday said that Pakistan's gaining observer status at West Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) held in Qiangdao is a "welcome development".

Agreement to unanimously award observer status to Pakistan was reached at a biennial conference of the WPNS held in China's naval port of Qingdao Tuesday. Pakistan is the fourth observer of the WPNS, after Bangladesh, India and Mexico, reports Xinhua news agency.

The unanimous vote follows submission of Pakistan's application at a workshop held at east China's Nanjing City in January.

The WPNS was established in 1987 with goals to promote cooperation between the navies of its member countries, strengthen mutual understanding and trust, and jointly safeguard regional maritime security. It comprises navies whose countries border the Pacific Ocean region.

An applicant for WPNS observer must be a navy of a state that has significant strategic interests in the Western Pacific region and should have the capacity to engage with WPNS navies and contribute constructively to the symposium.

It takes at least five years for a WPNS observer to become a member, according to the WPNS charter.

The WPNS now has 21 member states, including Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, United States and Vietnam.

China is one of the WPNS founding members. The Qingdao symposium is the first biennial meeting hosted by China.

The member states of a regional naval symposium also endorsed the Code for Unalerted Encounters at Sea (CUES), a navy-to-navy template designed to reduce misunderstandings and avoid maritime accidents.

The WPNS was established in 1987 with the goals to promote pragmatic cooperation between the navies of its member countries, strengthen mutual understanding and trust, and jointly safeguard regional maritime security. It comprises navies whose countries border the Pacific Ocean region.

The Qingdao meeting is the first time for China, one of its 12 founding members, to host the biennial symposium.

More than 140 delegates from its 21 member countries and observer nations were attending the two-day event.

With decorative flags raised, seven vessels from China, Brunei, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia welcomed hundreds of visitors to tour active warships on Tuesday before sailing out for a joint drill on Wednesday.