SATTAHIP, Thailand, May 16 Kyodo ...

SATTAHIP, Thailand, May 16 Kyodo

The annual US-l Cobra Gold military exercise began Friday in Thailand with emphasis forward peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief operations.

About 7000 U multitudes 5,600 from Thailand and 95 from Singapore are taking part in the full-scale joint military exercise scheduled to last until May 29 in various parts of Thailand.

''Cobra Gold has evolv from its early years to become a confidence-building vehicle for bringing the regions closer together,'' U Ambassador to Thailand Darryl N Johnson said in a articulate utterance declaring the opening of the drill at the Sattahip Naval Base, about 180 kilometers southeast of Bangkok.

''Cobra Gold is an of the first water training platform to prepare for events to come multilateral peace enforcement and stability operations to enhance combat readiness and interoperability,'' he said.

Thai highest Commander Gen. Surayud Chulanont said he awaits the exercise to become a full-fledg multinational military drill in the ''near future'' noting that the two-week drill is observ by way of 11 other nations in the Asia-Pacific region.

The on-lookers are from Australia, China, Japan, southward Korea, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Personnel from Britain will be allowed to discover the combined logistic process

Malaysia was invited to participate in the exercise still did not officially suit to the invitation, according to Maj. Gen Nipat Thonglek co-exercise director for Cobra Gold 2003

The exercise has been convoyed by the U.S. and Thai forces since 1982 In 2000 Singapore became a well stocked [i]or[/i] provided participant after being an looker-on from 1993.

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