Australia — Chief of Navy hosts largest RAN Sea Power Conference to date

More than 1000 del­e­gates rep­re­sent­ing 35 coun­tries, includ­ing first time attendee Nige­ria, will attend the largest Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy (RAN) Sea Pow­er Con­fer­ence in Syd­ney from 31 Jan­u­ary to 2 Feb­ru­ary 2012.

Chief of Navy, Vice Admi­ral Ray Grig­gs AM CSC RAN, will host near­ly 50 flag-rank offi­cers of Chief of Navy lev­el from over­seas, or their rep­re­sen­ta­tive, and more than 25 inter­na­tion­al and local mar­itime experts who will speak to the con­fer­ence theme, ‘The Naval Con­tri­bu­tion to Nation­al Secu­ri­ty and Prosperity.’ 

Cap­tain Gor­don Andrew, RAN, Sea Pow­er Con­fer­ence Direc­tor, said the con­fer­ence, now in its twelfth year, is one of the most sig­nif­i­cant events on the naval and mar­itime indus­try calendar. 

“It’s an impor­tant forum for navies from around the globe to come togeth­er and dis­cuss the essen­tial role that the sea plays in a nation’s eco­nom­ic and social pros­per­i­ty,” Cap­tain Andrew said. 

“By con­fer­ence end, all those attend­ing will have a greater under­stand­ing of the chal­lenges fac­ing the mar­itime com­mu­ni­ty in the future, both here in the Asia-Pacif­ic region but also fur­ther abroad.” 

As part of the con­fer­ence, five RAN ships will be open for del­e­gate tours includ­ing the newest amphibi­ous acqui­si­tion HMAS Choules, and two frigates, HMA Ships Syd­ney and Bal­larat berthed at Gar­den Island and two Mine Hunter Coastals HMAS Huon and HMAS Yarra berthed at Cock­le Bay. 

Con­fer­ence atten­dees will also be treat­ed to a Sun­set Cer­e­mo­ny and Beat to Quar­ters con­duct­ed by the RAN Band and Aus­tralian Fed­er­a­tion Guard Navy Detach­ment on 31 Jan­u­ary. Mem­bers of the pub­lic are wel­come to watch this spec­tac­u­lar cen­turies old mil­i­tary tra­di­tion on the Dar­ling Har­bour foreshore. 

The RAN Sea Pow­er Con­fer­ence is an inte­gral part of the bien­ni­al Pacif­ic 2012 Mar­itime Con­gress, and Expo­si­tion, con­duct­ed by Mar­itime Aus­tralia Lim­it­ed, and Pacif­ic 2012 Inter­na­tion­al Mar­itime Con­fer­ence, host­ed by Engi­neers Aus­tralia, the Roy­al Insti­tu­tion of Naval Archi­tects and the Insti­tute of Marine Engi­neer­ing, Sci­ence and Technology. 

For more infor­ma­tion, full event pro­gram or to attend vis­it www.seapowerconference.com.au

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter