TAWAU, April 21 (Bernama) -- The 'USNS Brunswick', the United States (US) Navy's Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) ship made its first call on Tawau today, as part of the Pacific Partnership 2018 (PP18) secondary mission platform.

PP18 Deputy Mission Commander, Capt Peter Olive Obe said 140 EPF crew would engage in a series of civil engineering, medical and outreach engagements with the local community and the Malaysian Armed Forces during the 13-day visit here, ending May 3.

"Thank you to the people of Tawau for welcoming us and we are looking forward to the time that we will spend here.

"Our Malaysian partners offer a multitude of opportunities to grow our shared capabilities in medical, civil engineering and disaster relief preparedness," he told reporters when met after the arrival of the ship at the Tawau terminal here today.

PP18 is the largest annual multilateral disaster response preparedness exercise in the Indo-Pacific region designed to help the partner and host nations to prepare for natural disasters in the Pacific, along the Ring of Fire.

The PP18 team this year includes military and civilian personnel from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Peru and Japan.

The mission comprises more than 800 US and partner nation civil-military personnel working side-by-side with host nation counterparts to be better prepared for potential humanitarian and disaster response situations.

-- BERNAMA