[NYTr] Army chiefs from 19 nations in secret Sydney meeting

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Reuters via Times of India - Aug 14, 2007
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Army_chiefs_from_19_nations_in_secret_Sydney_meet/articleshow/2279494.cms

Army chiefs from 19 nations in secret Sydney meet

CANBERRA: Army chiefs from 19 nations, including the United States,
Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia held a secret meeting in Sydney in the
lead-up to an Asia-Pacific summit, Australia's top soldier said on
Tuesday.

The generals met at a Sydney hotel last week to discuss
counter-terrorism, peacekeeping and other areas of joint concern
such as disaster relief, Lieutenant-General Peter Leahy said.

"There's a lot going on in Sydney and we didn't want to make a
fuss," Leahy said, citing security concerns for keeping the
meeting secret.

The leaders of 21 nations, including US President George W Bush,
Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe meet in Sydney for the three-day APEC summit
in early September.

The generals' meeting included US Army Chief of Staff General
George W Casey, Indonesian Army Chief General Djoko Santoso,
Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff General Ryoichi
Oriki and Indian Vice Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant-General
Deepak Kapoor.

Leahy said Australia's military judged it better not to publicise
the meeting during APEC security preparations, but said the talks
should lead to better cross-military ties.

"You'll see more cooperation into the different armies to make
sure that our soldiers are more culturally aware, linguistically
attuned and able to deal in these very complex environments," he
said.