The Vietnamese frigate’s participation in MILAN 2022 is to reinforce and strengthen the friendship and sound cooperation between the two militaries and navies of Vietnam and India, to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the bilateral diplomatic relations, and to contribute to accelerating the Vietnam-India comprehensive strategic partnership.
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Frigate 016-Quang Trung leaves Cam Ranh Military Port for India. |
According to Senior Captain Nguyen Van Ngan, the Vietnam People’s Army sent Frigate 016 to the event amid the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic to show its support to multilateral activities held by the Indian Navy. It is the first time that Vietnam has sent a frigate to the MILAN exercise.
Under the theme of “Camaraderie – Cohesion – Collaboration,” the exercise aims to enhance cooperation, professional exchange, experience sharing, and improvement of collaboration capability among the navies in such a large-scale exercise.
Due to the impacts of COVID-19, the opening ceremony, street parades and several other activities as parts of the exercise will be cancelled.
The port phase will include performance of submarine rescue, workshops, professional exchange, MILAN culture village and other activities. The sea phase will include joint exercises on information and communication, replenishment at sea and on air, and more.
The Vietnam People’s Navy hopes to enhance collaboration with navies of partner countries to jointly cope with challenges in maritime security, while enhancing friendship, mutual trust and understanding among participating forces, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.
Additionally, the trip to India is expected to help Vietnamese naval troops enhance capability and combat readiness, as well as master their weapon and equipment.
The MILAN exercise 2022 was held by the Indian Navy for the first time in 1995 with the participation of four countries. The India Navy has held 10 MILAN exercises so far.
Translated by Trung Thanh