New Delhi [India], July 27 (ANI): Indian Naval ship Talwar is participating in exercise Cutlass Express 2021, being conducted from July 26 to August 6 along the East Coast of Africa, to improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity, promote national and regional security, the Ministry of Defence has said.

An official release on Monday said the exercise is an annual maritime exercise conducted to promote national and regional maritime security in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean.

The 2021 edition of the exercise involves the participation of 12 Eastern African countries, US, UK, India and various international organisations like the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol, European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), Critical Maritime Routes Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO) and EUCAP Somalia. Indian Navy is participating in the exercise in a 'trainer role'.

"The exercise focuses on East Africa's coastal regions and is designed to assess and improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity, promote national and regional security and increase interoperability between the regional navies," the release said.

As part of the exercise, the Indian Navy, together with other partners, shall undertake the training of contingents from various participating countries in various fields across the spectrum of maritime security operations.

The release added that information sharing and information flow between various partner countries with respect to maritime domain awareness is also a key focus of the exercise and participation of India's Information Fusion Centre - Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) would contribute in achieving the same.

As part of the exercise, the ship is visiting Mombasa, Kenya, wherein various other professional interactions are also planned with the Kenya Navy. The ship, during its stay at Mombasa, will also host a number of events to build stronger bridges of friendships with Kenya, Indian community and host of other partners in addition to the Cutlass Express participants.

The Ministry of Defence said that India's commitment to the countries along East Coast of Africa and the Western IOR is further going to be strengthened with the visit of INS Talwar and is in keeping with India's stated policy towards maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean region and vision SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region). (ANI)