Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah with Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command Admiral John C Aquilino. - INFOFOTO
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Borneo Bulletin/Asia News Network): Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah on Monday (Aug 8) received in audience Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (US Indo-Pacom) Admiral John C Aquilino.
Accompanying the admiral were US Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam Caryn McClelland, Executive Assistant Captain Melvin Smith and Office of Defense Cooperation Chief Lieutenant Commander Samuel S Kim.
Deputy Minister of Defence Brigadier General (Rtd) Dato Seri Pahlawan Abdul Razak Abdul Kadir and Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) Major General Dato Paduka Seri Muhammad Haszaimi Bol Hassan were also present.
Brunei and the US have enjoyed a close and long-standing defence relationship that has been cemented since Nov 29, 1994 through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation.
Bilateral defence relations have strengthened with cooperation in the form of visits, defence and military meetings, exercises, trainings, professional exchanges, and cross-attendance of courses.
The two countries also cooperate with one another at a multilateral level through the South-East Asia Cooperation and Training (Seacat), the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), the Chief of Defence Conference (CHOD) and the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus).
The admiral and his delegation are in the Sultanate for a three-day visit from Aug 7 to today.
The audience ceremony took place at Istana Nurul Iman.
