The maiden Bilateral Maritime Exercise between the Indian Navy (IN) and Royal Thai Navy (RTN) was conducted from 20 to 23 December 2023.
Ex-Ayutthaya 2024
The maiden Bilateral Maritime Exercise between the Indian Navy (IN) and Royal Thai Navy (RTN) was conducted from 20 to 23 December 2023. Indigenously built INS Kulish and IN LCU 56 participated in the inaugural edition of the exercise. The RTN side was represented by His Thai Majesty’s Ship Prachuap Khiri Khan. The 36th edition of India-Thailand Coordinated Patrol was also conducted along with the maiden bilateral exercise. Maritime Patrol Aircraft from both navies participated in the Sea Phase of the exercise.
The Indo-Thai Bilateral Exercise is being named as ‘Ex-Ayutthaya’, which literally translates to ‘The Invincible One’ or ‘Undefeatable’, and symbolises the significance of two of the oldest cities Ayodhya in India and Ayutthaya in Thailand With the institution of a Bilateral Exercise, both navies have taken a step towards strengthening operational synergy and progressively increasing the exercise complexity.
During the maiden edition of the exercise, participating units from both navies conducted surface and anti-air exercises including weapon firing, seamanship evolutions and tactical manoeuvres. As part of Government of India’s vision of SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region), the Indian Navy has been proactively engaging with countries in the Indian Ocean Region towards enhancing regional maritime security.
India-Thailand Relations
•Thailand and India have a longstanding diplomatic relationship that dates back to 1947.
•The relationship is built on a foundation of economic and cultural ties that have existed for more than 2000 years.
•India’s ‘Look East’ policy (since 1993) and Thailand’s ‘Look West’ policy (since 1996) which has now metamorphosed into India’s ‘Act East’ and Thailand’s ‘Act West” are strongly contributing to consolidating bilateral relations including economic & commercial linkages.
•Bilateral trade between India and Thailand reached an all-time high of around USD 15 billion in 2021-22.
•In the ASEAN region, Thailand ranks as India’s 5th largest trading partner after Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
•Currently, Thai goods have benefited from tax reduction under ASEAN-India FTA in Goods, which came into effect in January 2010.
Defense Exercises
•Exercise MAITREE (Army).
•Exercise SIAM BHARAT (Air Force).
•India-Thailand Coordinated Patrol (Navy).
