Participants at the final co-ordinating conference in Pune
The Indian army conducted the final co-ordinating conference for the Joint Military Exercise (MILEX-18) in Pune on Thursday and Friday. MILEX-18 will be held at the Foreign Training Node at Aundh Military Station in Pune in September. The exercise, which is being conducted under the aegis of the Southern Command, will focus on the need to counter and prevent spread of terrorism and radicalisation, especially in semi-urban areas of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) nations, the Army said in a statement.
The armies of all seven BIMSTEC countries — India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand and Myanmar — will be participating in the exercise.
The aim of the exercise is to create synergy, better understanding and evolve an institutionalised military forum for regional cooperation in the field of counterterrorism among member states. Each member state is being represented by five officers and 25 other ranks for the exercise, the press release said.
Delegates from all member nations, and those from the Defence Ministry and Army headquarters from India, were in attendance. The objectives, training modalities and the roadmap for this exercise was discussed in detail.
The two-day-long conference was chaired by Major General V K Singh, who is the head of the Operations Branch at Headquarters Southern Command.