Milan mega naval exercise seeks to provide platform to work together on common maritime challenges: Vice Admiral Sobti

Deputy Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti on Wednesday said the nine-day mega naval exercise 'Milan' in Visakhapatnam seeks to provide a platform to India and other countries to work together on common maritime challenges even as he underlined "there is no message" against China in this exercise.

Interacting with the media at the Kota House in New Delhi ahead of the naval exercise that will take place from February 19 to 27, he also said that 51 navies are slated to participate in the exercise and added the current geopolitical situation and the maritime challenges arising out of these would also be discussed during the event.

The exercise will take place against the backdrop of fractious geopolitical environment, including increasing security concerns in the Red Sea.

Vice Admiral Sobti was quoted by PTI as saying, "Milan 2024 is a major endeavour by the Indian Navy to get together friendly foreign countries from across the globe to partner with us for a maritime activity. This year in 2024, we are having Milan in Visakhapatnam, and 51 countries are participating in the event. And of these 51 countries, 15 countries are sending ships and one aircraft is also joining for the exercise." 

The mega naval exercise will feature a series of events, including an international maritime exposition, a maritime technical exhibition, a city parade is planned, and also junior officers' interaction, he said, adding that all this is part of its harbour phase, which will be from February 19 to 23.

"After that we will be doing the exercises at sea, which will be from February 24-27, in which we will have Indian naval ships and aircraft as well as ships from friendly foreign countries participating in 'Milan'," he stated.

Navies from the US, Japan, Australia, France, Bangladesh, Brazil, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Canada, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Spain and Yemen, are set to be among the participating nations.

(With Agency Inputs)