12th annual Chiefs of Defense Conference scheduled to run Oct. 26-29 in Hawaii. Senior military officers of 22 nations will gather in Hawaii this week to attend the conference.
This year’s conference is hosted by Adm. Robert Willard, commander of U.S. Pacific Command.
However US not given permission to Srilanka participate to the conference. Chief of Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka or President Mahinda Rajapaksha not yet have made statement about this issue.
US government had informed the Sri Lankan government regarding this matter through the US ambassador in Sri Lanka last week.
The purpose of the conference is to bring together senior military leaders from nations in the Asia-Pacific region to meet and discuss mutual security challenges, improve mutual relationships and foster security cooperation. The conference theme is Common Defense Challenges in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Nations attending this year’s conference include: Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, France, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Tonga, Vietnam, and the United States.
Srilankan Security forces officers are panic over the non permission by US government and they also waiting to reply from President Mahinda Rajapaksha or General Sarath Fonseka.