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Africa-India joint exercise AFINDEX- 2023 commences in Pune
The joint exercise is in keeping with India’s outreach to Africa, which commenced in 2008 through the India-Africa Summit
First India Bureau
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Pune: The second edition of the Africa-India Field Training Exercise (AFINDEX- 2023) between India and 23 nations of the African continent commenced at Foreign Training Node, Aundh, Pune on Tuesday.
According to the official statement, 100 Participants from Botswana, Cameroon,
Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Seychelles, Senegal, Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, are attending this unique field training exercise. The participants were addressed by Lt Gen Rakesh Kapoor, Corps Command- er, Desert Corps.
The joint exercise is in keeping with India’s outreach to Africa, which commenced in 2008 through the IndiaAfrica Summit and has been thereafter held in 2015 and 2019. The theme of the exercise is focused on Humanitarian Mine Action and Peace Keeping Operations, the official statement read.
The improvement of interoperability and operational readiness for UN peacekeeping missions depends on military engagement and cooperation among the participating member countries.
The objectives of the exercise are to continue
100 PARTICIPANTS to build upon the initiatives taken to strengthen India - Africa rela- tions, with a focus on enhancing peace and security, to create op- portunities to exchange ideas & perspectives, learn from the African experience in cooperative security and management of security crisis situations as well as to promote a collaborative approach in capacity enhancement of African armies, the press release read. Notably, the Exercise is categorically divided into four phases. Initially, the trainers are trained. This is further followed by a Humanitarian Mine Action and a Peace Keeping Operations Phase; finally, culminating in a validation exercise to assess the results of the training conducted, the release added.
