Shangri-La Dialogue: Opening Remarks

Welcome to the Opening Dinner for the Sixth IISS Asia Security Summit. We are proud that again, at this year's Shangri-La Dialogue, we will be hosting the largest ever gathering of defence and security officials from the participating countries, with more defence and foreign ministers, chiefs of defence staff, permanent secretaries of ministries of defence and foreign affairs, intelligence officials and other security professionals with a stake in the future of Asia-Pacific Security than before. In particular we are delighted to welcome three countries who are making their inaugural appearance: Germany, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who are represented here at minister and vice ministerial level. I should also like to record the fact that the People's Republic of China is represented here for Zhang Qinsheng, Deputy Chief of Staff of the PLA. We know that he brings the best wishes for this event from the senior Chinese leadership. Similarly, we note the presence amongst us of Lieutenant General Nguyen Duc Soat, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, leading the delegation from Vietnam. The IISS, our host country and the other states participating in this annual exercise in multilateral defence diplomacy welcome you all to this gathering. We look forward to many more years of growing collaboration in the service of trans-regional dialogue on Asia-Pacific Security. The institutionalisation of the Shangri-La Dialogue was strengthened in October 2006 when the IISS and the Ministry of Defence of the Government of Singapore signed a new agreement that permits and facilitates the holding of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore through to 2011 when we look forward to celebrating the tenth anniversary of this summit. To deepen our relations with all our friends in the Asia Pacific we are building up our IISS-Asia office in Singapore and our new Executive Director of that office Dr Tim Huxley will be travelling throughout the region to learn how the IISS can conduct research and run events of interest to the countries participating in this Dialogue. The success of this format has inspired us to transfer this IISS practice of convening the national security establishments of regional states with interested outside powers to other areas, and in particular, the Gulf. In February of this year the IISS signed an agreement with the Kingdom of Bahrain to continue the Manama Dialogue that we began three years ago in 2004, securing host nation support also through to 2011. I have pleasure in recognising in the room tonight Sheikh Ahmed bin Khalifa al Khalifa, Secretary General of the Supreme Defence Council in Bahrain, and representative of His Majesty King Hamad, to thank him for his support to our efforts. Here is Asia, since the Shangri La Dialogue last met, there have been many regional defence and security developments worth assessing and building on at this meeting. In November 2006, Indonesia and Australia signed an Agreement on the Framework for Security Cooperation, which effectively replaced the earlier bilateral Agreement on Maintaining Security, which had lapsed in 1999. In March 2007, the Australia-Japan Security Agreement committed the United States' two most important allies in the region to cooperate on counter terrorism, maritime security, border protection and disaster relief. Also in March, Singapore and the United States which already maintained exceptionally close defence and security ties signed a Science and Technology Agreement on Homeland Security. In April, Singapore and Indonesia signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA), under which the Singapore Armed Forces would be allowed to resume use of Indonesian training facilities after a hiatus since 2003. This week Australia and the Philippines agreed to sign a security agreement that would facilitate training arrangements. At the same time, there have been indications of intensifying multilateral security cooperation, notably in the maritime sphere: the ReCAAP (Regional Cooperation Agreement against Piracy) Information Sharing Centre became operational in Singapore in November 2006, and the Western Pacific Naval Symposium staged its Second Multilateral Sea Exercise, using Singapore as a base, in May. The resumption of Six Party Talks offers some hope of a process surviving for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. The strengthening of the East Asia Summit shows that the multilateral spirit remains strong in the region, strong enough that Americans and Europeans are asking themselves how they might connect themselves, even at one remove, to that diplomatic instrument. India is showing renewed interest in wider security co-operation and China too, is displaying a more extrovert approach to its foreign and security policies. All these and more issues will be discussed both publicly and more privately among delegation leaders at this year's summit. The IISS would like to thank the Government of Singapore for their support to this effort, and also to pay tribute to our sponsors: BAE Systems, Boeing, EADS, the MacArthur Foundation, Northrop Grumman, Autonomy, Keppel Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, ST Engineering, The Asahi Shimbun, the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and for tonight's dinner, Bain and Company. Our special guest at this evening's Opening Dinner is in the best possible position to develop some of the international security and defence themes that will be the subject of both public and private discussion at this year's Shangri-La Dialogue. To introduce him, I should like to invite to the podium the Chairman of the IISS, Professor Francois Heisbourg. Thank you very much.