What’s in the news?

• The latest edition of the Indian Navy’s multilateral exercise MILAN 2022 is scheduled to commence from 25th of this month in Visakhapatnam.
• India is celebrating the 75th year of its independence in 2022 and MILAN 22 provides an opportunity to commensurate this milestone with our friends and partners. The theme of the MILAN 2022 exercise is Camaraderie – Cohesion – Collaboration which aims to project India as a responsible maritime power to the world at large.
• The aim of the exercise is to hone operational skills, imbibe best practices and procedures, and enable doctrinal learning in the maritime domain, through professional interaction between friendly navies.
• MILAN is a biennial multilateral naval exercise incepted by the Indian Navy in 1995 at Andaman and Nicobar Command.
• Starting with the participation of only four countries, Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, in the 1995 edition, the exercise has since transitioned leaps and bounds in terms of the number of participants and complexity of exercises. 
• Originally conceived in consonance with India’s Look East Policy, MILAN expanded in ensuing years with the Centre’s Act East policy and Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) initiative, to include participation from island nations in the Western Indian Ocean Region (IOR) as also IOR littorals.
• MILAN 22 will witness its largest-ever participation with more than 40 countries sending their warships or high-level delegations.
• MILAN 22 will provide an invaluable opportunity to foster bonds of maritime brotherhood across the oceans.

Source:

1. https://newsonair.gov.in/News?title=Indian-Navy%e2%80%99s-multilateral-exercise-%26%2339%3bMILAN-2022%26%2339%3b-to-commence-from-25th-Feb-in-Visakhapatnam&id=436073