Singapore, RI sign pact

Singapore, RI sign pact

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore and Indonesia signed a pact Tuesday
formalizing the setting up of a key joint military training
facility to mark 25 years of bilateral naval cooperation,
officials said.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) was for the development
and use of a naval gun-firing training facility on Kayu Ara
island, part of Indonesia's Riau island chain near Singapore.

The facility, known as the "naval gunfire scoring system", was
installed in June 1998.

The MOU was signed by Indonesia's navy chief of staff Achmad
Sutjipto and Singapore's chief of navy Lui Tuck Yew on the
Indonesian island of Batam, just south of Singapore, according to
a joint statement by the defense ministries of both nations.

Singapore and Indonesia conduct joint exercises and undertake
joint patrols to combat piracy as part of their naval
cooperation.