• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Pakistan, 11 other countries launch naval exercises

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, March 9, IRNA -– Pakistani and naval forces from 11 countries Tuesday began a five-day multinational naval exercise in Arabian Sea off coast Karachi.

Besides Pakistan, Special Marine Forces and their ships from the U.S., UK, China, France, Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia and Malaysia are taking part in the exercises.

Twenty-eight countries, including Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Oman, the Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Sudan, Thailand, UAE, Ukraine and Yemen have sent their delegations to participate in the exercise as observers.

Commander Pakistan Fleet Vice-Admiral Abbas Raza, told the opening ceremony that the exercise will focus on issues related to piracy, sea terrorism, human trafficking, protection to marine interests and international trade.

“It will be our collective goal to provide conducive environment for sea trade and safeguard maritime interests,' he said, adding that presently the piracy was confined to sea off Somali region which may grow over the period and there was need to face this challenge jointly.

Admiral Reza later told the media that the multinational exercise roject to highlight the image of Pakistan and seriousness to bring peace and stability in the region.

He said that since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Maritime Security Agency and Indian Coast Guards have established a special hotline to stay in direct contact to avoid any future untoward incidents.

'It is not possible for any one country to single-handedly deal with all these threats,' he said, adding that there was a dire need for 'collective and collaborative' security.

He said that piracy at sea remained a formidable challenge which had now spread out to the Indian Ocean from initially being limited to just the Strait of Malacca.

'We are keeping track of ship movements through the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation,' the Vice Admiral informed about the anti-piracy efforts.

When asked if the recent strain in diplomatic relations between Pakistan and the U.S. had any adverse effect on them, Raza said professional cooperation between the armed forces were excellent.

**1771
Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30287673