36th Military Adivisors Conference DPR/TV/1509

The SEATO Military Adviser's 36th Conference opened at Defence Department, Russell Offices, Canberra, ACT, today under the chairmanship of Admiral Sir Victor Smith, Military Adviser for Australia and Chairman, Australian Chiefs of Staff Committee. The conference is scheduled to end tomorrow. During a ceremony held this morning to mark the opening of the conference the flags of participating nations and that of the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation were unfurled. Among those attending the ceremony were the Military Advisers, the SEATO Secretary-General Lieutenant General Jesus M. Vargas and the Chief, Military Planning Office, 237 Major General Robert Arthur Hay. In the course of the two day meeting the conference will discuss the Communist Threat and the action necessary for the defence of the Treaty Area. The conference will also review and update the work of the Military Planning Office. Military Advisers attending the Conference are: Admiral Sir Victor Smith KBE CB DSC, Chairman of the Australian Chiefs of Staff Committee; Lieutenant General R. J. H. Webb CB CBE, Chief of the New Zealand Defence Staff; General Romeo C. Espino AFB, Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines; Air Chief Marshal Dawee Chullasapya, RTAF Chief of Staff, Supreme Command, Royal Thai Armed Forces; Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Peter Hill-Norton GCB, Chief of the Defence Staff, United Kingdom; Admiral John S. McCain Jr, USN, United States Commander in Chief, Pacific.