India Holds First-Ever Trilateral Navy Exercise With African Countries

In its first-ever trilateral naval drill with African countries, India's navy participated in a trilateral exercise with the navies of Tanzania and Mozambique as part of efforts to strengthen the country's defence ties with the continent.

This exercise followed the Gandhinagar Declaration, which was adopted during the recently ended India-Africa Defence Dialogue in Gandhinagar on the margins of DefExpo 2022.

According to the officials, the exercise included handling asymmetric threats, boat and helicopter operations, casualty evacuation drills, fire fighting and visit board search and seize (VBSS) drills. The harbour exercise took place from 26 to 28 October and the sea phase took place from 28 to 29 October. 

The Indian Navy Ship (INS) Tarkash took part in the exercise in Tanzania. According to a statement issued by the Indian High Commission in Tanzania, on the arrival of the ship, Commanding Officer Captain Abraham Samuel, accompanied by Defence Attaché Captain Nitesh Garg.

INS Tarkash also took part in a bilateral maritime partnership exercise with Tanzania. According to officials, the exercise would benefit the sharing of best practices and improved interoperability between the two films.

In 2003, India and Tanzania signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation. The MoU establishes an overarching framework for the advancement of different defence cooperation efforts between the two countries.

In recent years, India and Tanzania have collaborated on defence training in Indian institutes. In India, 400 Tanzanian defence personnel were trained. Since December 2017, an Indian Military Training Team (IMTT) has been stationed at the Command and Staff College in Arusha at the invitation of the late President John Magufuli. The first India-Tanzania Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) conference was conducted in New Delhi in 2021 and the Indian High Commission staged a Mini-DefExpo in Dar-es-Salaam this year.

Another major area of cooperation between the two countries is hydrography. Indian naval survey ships carried out hydrographic assessments of Tanzanian ports and created navigational charts. During the Indian Prime Minister's state visit to Tanzania in July 2016, 100 copies of six navigational charts and seven ENCs were handed over to Tanzanian officials.