General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces, together with Richard Fadden, Deputy Minister of National Defence, attended the 13th annual International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Asia Security Summit from May 30, 2014-June 1, 2014.

The IISS Asia Security Summit, which is also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, is the premier security forum for the Asia-Pacific region. This year’s Summit included discussion of issues such as maritime security, managing regional relations, and military cooperation.

The Summit gives the opportunity for Canada to engage in open dialogue with Ministers and Chiefs of Defence from over 25 countries across the region to discuss matters of mutual interest.

Quick Facts

• The IISS Asia Security Summit is an annual event hosted by Singapore.

• Canada’s engagement in the Asia-Pacific region is longstanding and is growing.

• Since 1977, Canada has engaged with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as its member states (Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam). As the cornerstone of Canada’s multilateral relations in the Asia-Pacific region, ASEAN provides a forum for Canada to engage in an important dialogue on Asia’s defence and security issues.

• The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) participate in numerous multilateral exercises with Asia-Pacific partners, such as Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), which is the world’s largest international maritime exercise. The CAF also sent observers to Exercise COBRA GOLD 2014, which involved up to 13,000 participants in the largest multi-national military exercise in the Asia-Pacific region.

Quotes

“This year’s Asia Security Summit provided an excellent opportunity for me to engage in dialogue with my counterparts, and to work to strengthen our defence relations with countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Meetings like this enable us to build on our military exchange programs, our key regional exercises, and such recent efforts as our response to the disaster of Typhoon Haiyan, to continue to demonstrate our enduring commitment to security and defence engagement in the region.”  
General Tom Lawson
Chief of the Defence Staff