With the Strait of Malacca as a backdrop, representatives from 24 nations stood before Malaysian and U.S. dignitaries at the Army Academy parade ground, Segenting Camp, Aug. 11 to celebrate the opening ceremony of the largest multinational peacekeeping exercise of the year, Keris Aman.

Co-hosted by the Malaysian Armed Forces and U.S. Pacific Command, Exercise Keris Aman, involves more than 900 participants from a total of 29 countries in a Global Peace Operations Initiative capstone training event, Aug. 11-24, to enhance peacekeeping capabilities and increase the training capacity for all participating nations.

Malaysian Joint Force commander, Lt. Gen. Ackbal bin Haji Abdul Samad, presided over the ceremony along with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Puneet Talwar, Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Pacific, Maj. Gen. Gary M. Hara, and Malaysian Rear Adm. Anuwi bin Hassan, assistant chief of staff, Defense Operations and Training Branch, Malaysian Armed Forces Headquarters.

Lt. Gen. Ackbal described the importance of focusing on the skills and capacity of peacekeepers and strengthening their training, which is the objective of Keris Aman in his remarks.

“One of the main imperatives has been the focus on strengthening the training and education of personnel across peacekeeping components through both pre-deployment and mission specific scenario based training and exercise, and that is the reason why we are all here today to partake in the is exercise Keris Aman capstone 2015,” Ackbal said.

Quoting Malaysia’s founder, Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, Assistant Secretary Talwar encouraged the participants to grow and maintain the bonds of unity, goodwill, tolerance and harmony that are all part of global peacekeeping.

“Those of you who are here today are keepers of these bonds,” Talwar said. “Of tolerance in the face of prejudice, of harmony in the face of discord, of goodwill in the face of hostility, of unity in the face of conflict. Now, let us work together in the service of peace.”

The U.S. State Department GPOI program builds partnership with multiple nations to expand global peacekeeping capability and capacity to meet increasing peace support operations requirements world-wide.

Exercise Keris Aman consists of two major components, a vignette based staff officer training event and a field training event for troops and their trainers. The training will be facilitated by an international cadre of instructors with extensive peacekeeping and peacekeeping-training experience.

The Malaysian Armed Forces contributed the majority of the core trainers and role players for the field training event. The country is also scheduled to send its Malaysian Contingent Battalion 850-3 to perform the UN peacekeeping operation in Lebanon this September.

Maj. Gen. Hara espoused on the strides the Malaysian have achieved in training peacekeepers for global missions.

“2015 marks a monumental year for peacekeeping by Malaysia,” said Hara. “With support through the U.S. Global Peace Operations Initiative, or GPOI, Malaysia was the first country in the world to achieve ‘full training capability’ and has set a solid example for all other GPOI partner countries throughout the world to emulate.”

Hara added, “Malaysia’s continued growth, maturation, and dedication to U.N. deployments show their strong commitment to making this world a safer and more secure place.”