malaysiangKUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — The government plans to set up a new Defence Attaché Office in Egypt to support the Defence White Paper which emphasises efforts towards defence diplomacy, both at bilateral and multilateral levels.
Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ikhmal Hisham Abdul Aziz said the government was also looking into the need to use existing Malaysian defence attachés in nearby embassies/consulates such as in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia or Ankara, Turkey to be accredited to Egypt to assist in any matter related to defence relations between Malaysia and Egypt.
He said it had the potential to expand cooperative relationships in various areas of defence such as military training, military education and the defence industry.
“The defence attaché is a mediator in terms of defence and national security as well as a representative of the Minister of Defence and the Armed Forces chief at official events involving defence,” he said during a question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Ikhmal Hisham was responding to a question from Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (BN-Baling) who wanted to know if the government planned to re-appoint a military attaché in Egypt, and when this could be implemented to help facilitate the entry of Malaysian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) into Gaza to channel humanitarian aid.
Answering a supplementary question from Ma’mun Sulaiman (Warisan-Kalabakan) on the establishment of new military attaché offices around the world, he said the government currently had no plans to open new defence attaché offices except in Cairo, Egypt.
However, he said the Ministry of Defence was in the process of implementing accreditation plans for several defence attachés to several countries such as the attaché in Ankara would be accredited to Qatar, Moscow (Belarus), Paris (Netherlands), Riyadh (Jordan and Oman), Washington (Canada) and Yangon (Bangladesh).
“Currently, there are two countries that have approved the accreditation of Malaysian defence attachés to their countries, namely Bangladesh and Canada,” he added.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency
