Thanh leading its delegation. In 2008, Laos was represented for the first time. Notably despite the natural disasters in their respective countries, Myanmar and China were both led by high-level officers, Deputy Minister of Defence, Major-General Aye Myint for Myanmar and Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant-General Ma Xiaotian for China. The number of plenary sessions increased from five to six, while the number of break-out groups increased from three to six. In 2009, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was the first head of government other than Singapore to address the summit's opening dinner. It is also known that Singapore and Australia signed a memorandum of agreement on the sidelines of the 2009 summit allowing Singapore's armed forces access to Australian training facilities for a further decade. 2010s In the 2010 summit, President of the Republic of Korea, Lee Myung-Bak, was the first head of state to make the keynote speech at the summit. Other notable delegations include the Russian delegation, led by Deputy Prime Minister (and former defence minister) Sergei Ivanov, and the Chilean delegation, led by Minister of Defence Jaime Ravinet de la Fuente. Despite Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's resignation the day before the SLD, his successor, Prime Minister Naoto Kan, ensured that Minister of Defense Toshimi Kitazawa could attend and speak in a plenary session at the SLD. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates made his fourth SLD appearance and China's Lieutenant-General Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of the General Staff led a strong delegation from China's People's Liberation Army. In June 2011, there was a marked shift in the debate towards non-traditional security issues as well as on the South China Sea. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib in his keynote address mentioned new multilaterism to deal with security challenges to the region includes people smuggling, drug trafficking, terrorism and nuclear proliferation. China was represented at the summit for the first time at full ministerial level. Chinese Defence Minister General Liang Guanglie indicated China's peaceful rise in the region and willingness to work with neighbouring countries to resolve competing claims to disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea. The United States reiterated its commitment to the Asia Pacific region despite having budgetary constraints, wars and a waning domestic economy. Outgoing US defence secretary Robert Gates said he will bet anyone $100 that in the next five years US influence will be strong if not stronger than today.