I would like to welcome our colleagues from the Embassy of Australia and Japanese International Cooperation Agency. Thank you for attending.
Thanks also to our Export Control and Border Security Office from the U.S. Embassy for putting this training course together, and to our U.S. Coast Guard team for their fine work instructing this course over the past two weeks.
Perhaps most importantly I would like to congratulate each of you graduates not only for the work you have done these past two weeks, but for the missions you perform every day to keep the waters of Indonesia safe and secure.
You represent the first line of defense against many threats and the United States is proud to support your efforts.
Whether you are boarding a private yacht in a harbor, or a container vessel at sea, I know you will soon use the skills you have learned these past two weeks.
Your daily mission puts you out in front as the earliest opportunity to identify and interdict the weapons and technology that are being smuggled to bad actors around the world.
Maritime security is more important than ever. President-elect Jokowi has signaled his intention to give greater priority to developing Indonesia’s maritime economy, while the volume of maritime trade both within Indonesia and between Indonesia and other countries is expected to increase substantially.
So denying terrorists and other bad actors the ability to acquire the technology necessary to develop and employ weapons of mass destruction will remain a critical pursuit.
I am very pleased that the KPLP is adopting the training programs necessary to improve your organization’s capabilities towards this pursuit.
KPLP’s continued development of a boarding officer training program will enable your organization to properly and effectively interdict vessels in your nation’s waters.
I am pleased that the U.S. State Department’s Export Control and Border Security Program and the U.S. Coast Guard have partnered with the KPLP to assist you with this endeavor.
While we are here today to celebrate a graduation, we should keep in mind that this is the successful completion of one step toward the larger goal of developing a sustainable boarding officer training program within the KPLP in the next year.
The U.S. Embassy’s Export Control and Border Security program will continue to fund U.S. Coast Guard instructor training and curriculum development events for the KPLP in 2015.
If these course development programs continue with the same enthusiasm and determination that you have demonstrated in these past two weeks I am confident in the success of the overall program.
I appreciate of the strong collaborative relationship that is established between the KPLP and the Export Control and Border Security Program.
I also appreciate the work done by all of the countries represented here today.
It is my hope that our collective efforts will ultimately produce a secure global maritime environment for the benefit of all of our nations.
Thank you.
