Top Military Award for Thailand's Defence Chief

SINGAPORE - President Tony Tan Keng Yam conferred Singapore's highest military award, the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Tentera) on the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) Chief of Defence Forces General Worapong Sanganetra on Tuesday at the Istana.

The award, known as the Distinguished Service Order (Military), recognises his significant contributions in strengthening the excellent defence ties between the RTARF and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

General Worapong's strong support for a wide range of bilateral and multilateral

activities, such as the annual multilateral Exercise Cobra Gold, has promoted professional collaboration between the two armed forces, it added.

General Worapong also championed closer military to military interactions through the exchange of visits and cross attendance of courses. These professional interactions have enhanced interoperability and bolstered greater mutual understanding and personal friendships between the two armed forces.

As part of his visit, General Worapong called on Chief of Defence Force Major-General

Perry Lim at the Ministry of Defence in the morning. The two of them also

renewed the Memorandum of Understanding on the SAF's participation in Exercise

Cobra Gold.

The Thai general's visit from Aug 31 to Sept 2 underscores the close

and long-standing defence relationship between Singapore and Thailand, Mindef said.