TOKYO, Sept 29 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tuesday he has ordered the country's troops to conclude their firefighting operations in Indonesia, their first such mission overseas, Kyodo News reported.
A Japanese Self-Defence Forces transport ship carrying three CH-47 helicopters was sent to Indonesia, hit by severe forest fires, with disaster relief operations launched Sept 16.
Indonesia has informed Japan that the SDF operations have helped prevent the spread of the forest fires and that the Indonesian government can handle the response going forward.
The choppers had carried out over 40 rounds of aerial firefighting activities through Monday, dumping around 220 tonnes of water, Koizumi told a press conference.
“The Defence Ministry and the SDF would like to further deepen defence cooperation with Indonesia, building on the trust that has been cultivated” from the operation, he said.
The transport ship, the Kunisaki, an 8,900-tonnes Osumi-class vessel, left the Maritime Self-Defence Force's Kure base in the western Japanese prefecture of Hiroshima on Aug 30 and arrived at Kijing Port in West Kalimantan on Sept 10.
The mission followed an agreement signed between Koizumi and his Indonesian counterpart Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin in May to broaden defence cooperation, including in joint training and disaster relief operations.
-- BERNAMA-KYODO
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