Pakistan Navy was formally accorded the Observer Status of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) on Tuesday.
The decision to this effect was announced at the plenary meeting of the 14th WPNS meeting at Qingdao, China which was attended by the naval chiefs and high level reps of the member navies.
WPNS was formed in 1988 to enhance cooperation amongst the navies of West Pacific rim nations. Since then, the WPNS has emerged as an important regional maritime collaboration forum. It comprises of 21 member navies namely, Australia, Brunei, Combodia, Canada, Chile, China, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Tonga, United States, Vietnam and four Observer navies which include Bangladesh, India, Mexico and now Pakistan.
The WPNS aims to increase cooperation and interoperability amongst international navies, as well as to build trust and confidence between the member countries by providing a framework to enable the discussion on maritime issues of mutual interest, exchange of information and personnel and demonstration of capabilities.