1.                 In response to media queries, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) will be participating in Exercise Malabar 07-2. Ex Malabar is a naval exercise held annually by the Indian Navy (IN) and the United States Navy (USN). The RSN accepted an invitation in October last year to participate in a multi-lateral exercise in the Indian Ocean with the USN and the IN. We were informed subsequently that the USN and the IN had also separately invited the Royal Australian Navy and the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force to participate in Ex Malabar 07-2.  The RSN frigate, RSS Formidable, will be taking part in the exercise, which will be conducted in the Bay of Bengal from 4 to 9 Sep 07. The RSN looks forward to a good exercise with the navies involved.

2.                 The RSN supports multilateral naval cooperation and participates in a number of exercises each year with our friends from around the world.  These include multilateral naval exercises such as Ex Malabar 07-2 and exercises under the ambits of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium and the Five Power Defence Arrangements. The RSN will also be participating in Ex Pacific Reach in November 2007, which is a submarine rescue exercise involving the navies from several countries including Australia, China, Japan, Pakistan, the Republic of Korea, as well as the United States. Such multilateral exercises promote greater understanding and interoperability amongst the participating navies. The RSN derives good professional value from such exercises, which allow the RSN to benchmark itself against other established navies.

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