Exercise Pirap Jabiru, a joint Australia-Thailand initiative to discuss complex UN peacekeeping operations, is evolving to include countries from around the world, Director of the ADF Peacekeeping Centre, Wing Commander Wendy Horder, said today. “This year, invitations have been extended to a number of regional countries, including Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Singapore, Mongolia, Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as the United Kingdom,” WGCDR Horder said.

“Pirap Jabiru has been running since 1998, but this is the first time the exercise will include participants from countries other than Australia and Thailand." “The evolution of Pirap Jabiru to a multilateral exercise is a significant step forward in regional peacekeeping cooperation and a positive development for regional security.

“By increasing Australia’s and Thailand’s ability to work with our partners to meet future peacekeeping challenges, Pirap Jabiru 06 will contribute to the region's growing interoperability across the spectrum of Peace Keeping Operations,” WGCDR
Horder said. The exercise, held from 2 to 11 August in Bangkok, has been developed as a joint venture between the ADF Peacekeeping Centre and the Thai Peace Operations Division and includes presentations from Thai and Australian Government organisations, international organisations and NGOs.

Participating countries will also discuss a series of problems relating to military planning and coordination of all activities undertaken under the authority of a UN mandate. “The discussions and presentation will provide participants with a greater
understanding of each others national planning processes and provide an opportunity to develop shared approaches to address the complexities of peacekeeping operations,” WGCDR Horder said. “In turn, this will assist coalition building for future UN operations by improving interoperability among potential peacekeeping partners.”