Washington National Guard, Malaysian Armed Forces commit to expand collaboration

By Rosmalis Anuar KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 (Bernama) -- The Washington National Guard and Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) are committed to expand their collaboration under the State Partnership Programme as the world turns the page on COVID-19. Washington Air National Guard Commander Brig Gen Gent Welsh said joint exercises between the two sides were resuming after being put on hold for about two years due to the pandemic. The visiting military leader said a lot of efforts have been made during the pandemic to maintain continuous engagement between both sides including through virtual conferences. "We had a really ambitious, I would say, five-year training plan. So really, in a lot of ways it's going back to and resetting the clock at 2019 and sort of taking it from there. "So the exercises that we've committed to we're going to be back in," he said in a press conference Thursday. Welsh who was here for an official visit, took part in a hybrid meeting of the US-Malaysia Bilateral Training and Consultative Group (BITACG) and met with a number of officials from the Malaysian Armed Forces. He said the “Bersama Warrior” exercise, which was held here in March 2020 but stopped halfway due to the pandemic, would be carried out in the first two weeks of June. "I think, even as early as April, you could potentially see more Washington National Guard folks coming out here to look at everything, from air refuelling, feasibility studies, things like that," he said. The State Partnership Programme was designed to establish long term relationships in which the US states and their partnered nations share best practices and expert knowledge in a range of areas. Malaysia inked the partnership agreement on Aug 16, 2017 and became the second country after Thailand in Southeast Asia to collaborate with the Washington National Guard. -- BERNAMA