Admiral Hari Kumar with his Quad counterparts in Japan
Tokyo: Days ahead of Malabar 2022 exercise to be commenced near the East China Sea in Yokosuka in Japan, Indian Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar along with his Quad counterparts (Australia, Japan and the United States) discussed ways to further enhance inter-operability between the naval forces of Quad countries.
The navies of Australia, India, Japan and the US will begin the 3oth edition of Malabar exercise from November 8.
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Admiral R Hari Kumar arrived in Japan on November 5 on a five-day trip to witness the Japanese international fleet review to be held from November 6. He will also attend the inauguration of multilateral naval drills Malabar 2022.
During the visit, as one of the Observer Navies in the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), the CNS will attend the 18th WPNS on 07-08 November 22 at Yokohama, being hosted by Japan, as the current Chair of WPNS.
In addition to representing India and the Indian Navy during the International Fleet Review (IFR) and Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), he will also be in attendance for the inauguration of the 2022 edition of Exercise Malabar, being held at Yokosuka with the participation of Australia, Japan and the USA.
Initiated in 1992, this year marks the 30th anniversary year of Exercise Malabar.
Admiral R Hari Kumar would also be interacting with his counterparts and other Heads of Delegations from close to 30 countries participating in the IFR, WPNS, and Malabar.
Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Kamorta also arrived at Yokosuka, Japan on November 2 to participate in the IFR and Exercise Malabar-2022.
The presence of these indigenously built ships of the Indian Navy at these multi-national events will be an opportunity to showcase the ship-building capabilities of Indian Shipyards during a large international gathering.
The visit of the CNS to Japan signifies a high level of bilateral defence engagements with Japan, as well as India’s active support and participation in multilateral engagements.
