India will host the first military exercise of the BIMSTEC group focusing on counter-terrorism.
The exercise is scheduled to be held in Pune in the second week of September. As part of this exercise, a conclave of the Army chiefs of all seven member-states is being planned.
The initial planning conference to work out the modalities is scheduled to be held in last week of June and the final planning conference is scheduled in August.
Objective
The aim of the exercise is to promote strategic alignment among the member-states and to share best practices in the area of counter-terrorism.
The theme includes counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain and cordon and search, and each side will bring in some 30 soldiers.
About BIMSTEC
BIMSTEC stands for Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. It was set up in 1997. This year’s BIMSTEC is scheduled to take place in Pune in the second week of September.
BIMSTEC is the sub-regional group of seven countries in South Asia and South East Asia lying in littoral and adjacent areas of Bay of Bengal constitute regional unity. These countires are India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
BIMSTEC is a sector-driven cooperative organization, starting with six sector including trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries.
Activities
BIMSTEC countries held a disaster management exercise in 2017, but this is the first military exercise of the grouping which brings together important neighbours of India in South and Southeast Asia.
This year, the conclave of Army chiefs is scheduled on the last two days of the exercise. The chiefs will debate the challenge of terrorism and transnational crime, which is a major concern among all the states and on how they can promote collective cooperation.
