Indian Coast Guard ship Samarth and ICGS Abhinav along with Sri Lanka Naval Ship Samudura participated in the exercise ‘DOSTI-16’ while Bangladesh participated as an observer.
Exercise DOSTI-16
Indian Coast Guard ship Samarth and ICGS Abhinav along with Sri Lanka Naval Ship Samudura are participating in the exercise ‘DOSTI-16’ while Bangladesh is participating as an observer.
Highlighting the importance of “collaboration and interoperability” among the coast guards’ personnel of the Maldives, India and Sri Lanka, Maldivian Defence Minister Mohamed Ghassan Maumoon said the trilateral exercise ‘Dosti’ will unite the troika to address “shared maritime security concerns.”
Sri Lanka has described ‘Dosti’ as a trilateral exercise that aims to enhance cooperation, strengthen friendship, improve mutual operational capability, and develop interoperability among the Coast Guard personnel of India, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka. Exercise ‘Dosti’ focuses on regional cooperation in areas such as search and rescue, medical evacuations, countering piracy, pollution response, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts.
The ‘Dosti’ series of naval exercises had begun in 1992 with only Maldives and India. Sri Lanka joined the programme in 2012 and this year, in the 16th edition, the Bangladesh Coast Guard too has joined as an observer.
