Naval exercise Milan to be held at Visakhapatnam in March next year

Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik on Monday said that the naval exercise MILAN 2020 is scheduled to be held at Vishakhapatnam in March 2020 in which 41 nations including the US, France, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been invited.

Indonesia, Mozambique, Sudan, Israel, Qatar, Thailand, Australia, Kenya and Egypt are also amongst the 41 nations invited for the event. Notably, China has not been invited to the naval exercise.

He said this while answering questions in this regard in the Rajya Sabha.

"The government pursues cooperation initiatives with friendly foreign countries including in Indian Ocean region through structured interactions like staff talks, empowered steering group etc," Naik said.

"The areas of cooperation include Capacity Building, Marine Domain Awareness, Training, Hydrography, Technical Assistance, Operational Exercise etc," he added.

Speaking on projects promoting indigenous production in Defence Research & Development Organisation(DRDO), Naik said: "There are 56 ongoing Mission Mode Projects worth Rs 49,424.54 Crore & 218 ongoing Technology Demonstration mode projects worth Rs 13,427.45 crore."

"These projects are directed for 100 per cent indigenous production, however, few projects have collaboration with foreign countries during the development phase," he added.