New Delhi, March 24 : Indian Navy will participate in a large scale multilateral maritime engagement exercise with African Countries, titled as 'Africa India Key Maritime Engagement', also known as AIKEYME. It means 'Unity' in Sanskrit, this is an initiative in this direction to enhance interoperability with the navies and maritime agencies.

According to the Indian Navy, the maiden edition of this exercise is being co-hosted by Indian Navy and Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) and would be conducted at Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and is planned to inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in mid-April 2025.

The exercise is planned over six days and includes participation from 8 countries including Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and South Africa in addition to the co-hosts.

The Harbour Phase of the exercise would include TableTop and Command Post exercises on Piracy and Information sharing, alongwith training on Seamanship and VBSS.

The Sea Phase comprises Seamanship evolution, Search and Rescue, Visit Board Search and Seizure, Small Arms firing and Helicopter Operations, official added.

Indian Navy said India and Africa give immense importance to maritime security and have reiterated their commitment to increase cooperation in tackling maritime Security threats such as piracy, illegal activities including trafficking, unregulated and unreported fishing through sharing of information and surveillance.

The multilateral maritime engagement exercise with African countries.

Over the last ten years, Indian Navy has deepened its partnerships with maritime agencies of Indian Ocean Region, to enhance maritime security in consonance with the Gol's vision of Security and Growth for all in the region (SAGAR).

Indian Navy has been collaborating with navies of IOR countries on several initiatives such as joint naval exercises, coordinated patrols, information sharing, HADR efforts, capacity building and other diplomatic engagements. With SAGAR, entering its second decade, and the announcement of Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security Across the Regions(MAHASAGAR) by Prime Minister, during his visit to Mauritius in March 2025, Indian Navy is launching its maiden initiatives of IOS Sagar and AIKEYME, which are aimed at consolidating Indian Navy's stature as the 'Preferred Security Partner' and First Responder in Indian Ocean Region.

Indian Ocean ship (IOS) Sagar, is an initiative towards continued cooperation with IOR nations.

One Indian Naval ship (INS Sunayna) is being deployed to the South west IOR with a combined crew of India and nine FFCs (Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Sri Lanka , South Africa).

The ship is planned to be deployed for over a month, in April 2025, and would be undertaking port calls at Dar-es-Salaam, Nacala, Port Louis, Port Victoria and Male and Joint surveillance of EEZs of Tanzania, Mozambique, Mauritius and Seychelles, official added. The Navy officials informed on Monday that the personnel from FFCs would undergo a training capsule of two weeks at various naval professional schools at Kochi, including training at sea.

The FFC personnel would be engaged in wholeship activities, watch keeping and other events related to their respective branches/ trade. The Participants of IOS Sagar are also planned to witness harbour phase activities of Exercise AIKEYME at Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

/IANS