Ahead of BIMTSEC military drill, officials of member nations hold initial meet

An initial meeting for a military exercise, which was scheduled to be conducted in September as part of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) nations, was held at headquarters of Army's Southern Command, Pune this week, the Army said today.

Armies of the BIMSTEC countries comprising India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand and Myanmar would be participating in the BIMSTEC Military Exercise (MILEX) from September 10 to 16 at the Foreign Training Node, Pune, the Army said in a statement.

The aim of the exercise was to create synergy, better understanding and evolve an institutionalised military forum for regional cooperation in the field of counter-terrorist operations among the member states.


Each member state would be represented by five officers and 25 other ranks for the MILEX -18.

The exercise would culminate with a chiefs' conclave scheduled on September 15 and 16, where the heads of the armies of the seven participating nations would get together to review this multi-nation exercise.

The aim of the conclave was to exchange ideas between the senior-most Army leadership of these regional nations in order to enhance operational synergy, the statement added.