By Pg Mohd Yusre Pg Hj Daud
His Excellency Dato Paduka Haji Mustappa bin Haji Sirat, Deputy Minister of Defence, made his first official visit to Japan and met with the Honourable Naoki Tanaka, Defence Minister of Japan. The Deputy Minister was accompanied by His Excellency Haji Saifulbahri bin Hj Awg Mansor, Permanent Secretary and other defence officials.
The overall purpose of the visit was to strengthen defence cooperation between both countries and discuss matters relating to the preparations of Brunei Darussalam’s chairmanship of the 2nd ADMM-Plus meeting next year.
The Honourable Naoki Tanaka received the Deputy Minister and his delegation today at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Shinjuku, Tokyo. During the meeting, Japan expressed its confidence and pledged their full support for the 2nd ADMM-Plus chairmanship of Brunei Darussalam next year. Japan also expressed her appreciation and thanked the Brunei Government and her people for the financial support to Japan in the aftermath of 11th March 2011 earthquake.
On bilateral defence cooperation, both sides expressed its readiness and desire to strengthen defence relations by increasing interactions and engagement between the two countries defence establishments at the senior official level. Both sides also reaffirmed the importance of continuing high-level interactions to further enhance and expand defence cooperation.
During the two days official visit, the Deputy Minister attended a dinner reception that was hosted by His Excellency Hironori Kanazawa, Administrative Vice Minister for Defence and a luncheon meeting hosted by His Excellency Joe Nakano, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs. On both occasions, discussions were held on a range of matters important to Brunei Darussalam and Japan including bilateral and regional security and defence cooperation.
The delegation also had the opportunity to visit the National Defence Academy (NDA) of Japan, at Yokosuka