THAI ARMY CONTINGENT BELIEVES AARM WILL FURTHER
BOLSTER ASEAN SPIRIT
Commander of the Thai Army Contingent, Col. Chartachai Vattanan,
said that the 14th ASEAN Armies Meet (AARM) being held in
West Java's Cilodong village will further bolster the spirit
of ASEAN solidarity.
Speaking
to ANTARA on the sidelines of the on-going 14th AARM which
is being held at the firing range of the Indonesian Army
Strategic Reserve Command's
Infantry Division from September 1 to 8, 2004, Vattanan
said that ASEAN armies' contingents will during the event
meet and communicate with each other for eight days.
"It
is during this event we can increase mutual understanding
while developing professionalism and fostering solidarity,"
he said on Saturday.
Vattanan
who is also a commander of a special unit in the Thai Army
said that his Chief of Staff, Gen. Chaisit Shinawatra, ha
stressed that the main objective of his contingent in the
14thAARM is to help nurture ASEAN solidarity.
"Before
we departed from Thailand, Shinawatra told us that the main
objective of the tournament is to increase the ASEAN spirit
of solidarity," Vattanan said. He said that it is in
the frame work of the ASEAN spirit his contingent —which
is Reinforced by 53 personnel will build their skills and
professionalism together with their counterparts from the
armies of other ASEAN countries.
"We
are here to increase our professionalims so that we could
eventually contribute to preserving security in ASEAN region,"
Vattanan said.
He stressed
that the armies' firing tournament is held not to seek victory
only but more importantly to realize the ASEAN spirit as
well.
Col.
Chartachai Vattanan said that in the face of the on-going
firing tournament, his contingent trained for three months
in a special firing range in his country.
The
Thai contingent fielded its shooters in all categories,
namely in the men's and women's pistol events with ten athletes,
in the rifle event with ten shooters, in the carbine match
with five athletes and in the automatic rifle gun event
with six shooters.
