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REGIONAL
COOPERATION AGREEMENT ON COMBATING PIRACY AND ARMED ROBBERY AGAINST SHIPS IN ASIA (ReCAAP)
Developing an Information Network System to support
regional cooperation in the fight against piracy and sea robbery
The
ReCAAP initiative gathered greater momentum today as
Singapore, on behalf
of 16 participating countries, signed a contract with ST Electronics
(Info-Software Systems), a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Electronics
Limited (ST Electronics) to develop an Information Network System (IFN) to facilitate
communications and information exchange among the participating governments.
The Contract was signed by BG (NS) Choi Shing Kwok, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Transport, and Mr Seah
Moon Ming, President of ST Electronics.
2 ReCAAP is
the first regional government-to-government agreement to deal with the piracy
problem in Asia. As of 20 April 2006, eleven countries have
signed the ReCAAP Agreement, namely, Brunei,
Cambodia, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Of
these eleven countries, eight have also ratified the Agreement, namely Cambodia, Japan, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar and the Republic of Korea. India and Sri Lanka have
completed their domestic procedures for ratification and are expected to
ratify the Agreement soon, while Brunei is in the
process of completing its domestic procedures. The ReCAAP
Agreement will enter into force 90 days after the tenth country
has deposited its instrument of ratification with the depository in Singapore. Singapore looks
forward to the signature and ratification by the remaining ReCAAP countries in due course.
3 As the host of the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC), Singapore is making
the necessary preparations to ensure that the Centre will be able to commence
work soon after the Agreement comes into force. Today’s Signing
Ceremony to develop the IFN marks a significant step forward in the ReCAAP initiative, as a secure information network is
critical to ensuring that the ReCAAP member countries
are able to carry out secure and expeditious communications with one another
and with the ISC. The IFN will be the backbone of the information-sharing
arrangements under ReCAAP, facilitating the
dissemination, exchange and analysis of information among ReCAAP
member countries to improve ground response to piracy incidents, as well as
to enable development of more effective prevention measures.
4 “The demonstrated enthusiasm and
speed at which the participating countries have come on board the ReCAAP initiative are clear evidence of regional
commitment towards the shared vision of a piracy-free Straits. When the Information Sharing Centre in Singapore is ready in
the coming months, the ReCAAP participating
countries will have their own dedicated centre to share information and monitor
developments on piracy issues. This will greatly add to the various other
initiatives that the individual countries have already been taking on their
own, or in concert with each other, to achieve piracy-free waters for the
ships in Asia," said BG (NS) Choi Shing Kwok, Permanent
Secretary of the Ministry of Transport.
5 Mr Seah
Moon Ming, President of ST Electronics said, “We are pleased to be engaged
as the vendor for the IFN System and to participate in this multilateral effort
to promote anti-piracy in the Asian region. We will bring with us all the
experience we have gained over the last 30 years, through our numerous local and regional project
implementations in homeland security."
MINISTRY
OF TRANSPORT
20 APRIL 2006
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