The Arms Control and Disarmament Centre (ACDC) at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) organised a Web Talk on “Evolving Strategic Environment in the Western Indian Ocean and Significance of AMAN Exercise 2021,” by Vice Admiral (R) Iftikhar Ahmed Rao HI (M) on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.
Malik Qasim Mustafa, Director ACDC, in his introductory remarks said that the web talk has been organised to mark the beginning of the AMAN maritime Exercise 2021, an initiative of the Pakistan Navy of holding biennial multinational maritime exercises in 2007. Since then, AMAN Exercise has become a major international naval event which is evident from its growing number of participants. More than 45 countries are going to participate in this year’s exercise including the US, Russian and Chinese navies. With a motto of “Together for Peace,” “AMAN 2021” is aimed at promoting peace and cooperation and countering evolving maritime challenges including non-traditional and common security threats like piracy, arms and drug trafficking, human smuggling, terrorism and climate change. In this regard, Pakistan Navy has always contributed towards regional maritime security and through the AMAN exercise, it wanted to promote its role as a bridge between other regional navies.
