Sri Lanka will be one of the 14 countries to participate in a multilateral naval exercise conducted by India every other year to strengthen the cooperation among the region’s navies.

Indian Navy will host navies of 14 countries in the South East Asia, Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region (IOR) for the eighth ‘Milan’ exercise in Andaman and Nicobar Islands that is to begin on Wednesday, February 01.

Nine countries including Sri Lanka, Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia Brunei and Myanmar will send their warships for the five-day exercise, Indian Navy officials have said.

Seychelles and Mauritius, which are participating in the exercise for the first time, and Maldives, will send their delegates to participate in table top exercises and a seminar on ‘Maritime Capacity Building Through Mutual Co-operation.’

During the exercise, the navies will aim to enhance their inter-operability and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in case there is a need to operate together in the event of a natural disaster or a tsunami-like situation, the official has said.