In mid-July, a team of 36 Australian Navy, Army and Air Force personnel completed a four month mission as part of Pacific Partnership 2011, an annual multilateral Humanitarian Civic Assistance program.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) team joined with members of the Canadian, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Malaysian,New Zealand, Singaporean, Spanish, and theUSmilitaries along with Non-Government Organisations and host nations.
Pacific Partnership 2011 delivered medical, dental, veterinary, engineering, and community service civic action projects improving the quality of life for residents ofTonga,Vanuatu,Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and theFederated States of Micronesia.
The medical team treated over 38,000 patients, while the team of veterinarians treated over 800 animals. Almost 60 engineering projects were completed.
The Pacific Partnership campaign evolved from the international disaster response for countries devastated during the 2004 Asian tsunami. It helps to strengthen relationships between participating countries; build partner capacity to conduct peace, stability; improve Humanitarian Assistance/ Disaster Relief capacity and improve security cooperation and interoperability among partner and host nations.
Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Ash Power said the importance of this mission could not be underestimated.
“This is an example of one of the many ways we will work better in the future and it is important that we understand how host and partner nation militaries as well as non-government agencies coordinate activities together,” Lieutenant General Power said.
During the past five years, Pacific Partnership has provided medical, dental, educational, and preventive medicine services to more than 241,000 people and completed more than 150 engineering projects in 15 countries through Asia-Pacific.
Media note:
ADF Contingent Commander Ashley Papp is available for phone interviews from 24-25 July and on Wednesday 27th July in Canberra
Further information: www.defence.gov.au/opEx/exercises/pp11/index.htm
