KARACHI – A fleet of the People’s Liberation Army Navy on Thursday set offfor Pakistan to attend a multilateral joint naval exercise at theinvitation of the Pakistani navy, China’s Ministry of National Defence said.
It is the eighth time for a Chinese naval fleet to participate in suchexercises organized by the Pakistani navy, which are aimed at strengtheningexchanges and friendly interactions with navies of relevant countries, saidthe statement.
The Aman-2021 multinational maritime exercise is commencing in Karachi andin the Pakistani waters from today (Thursday).
The 6-day exercise Aman-2021 has the slogan ‘Together for Peace” and willhave two phases, a harbor phase and a sea phase.
The exercise is being participated by 45 countries along with their surfaceand air assets, special operation forces, marine teams, senior officers andobservers.
“With a resolve against terrorism and piracy, carrying high the slogan of‘Together for Peace’, the Aman Exercise is conducted by the Pakistan Navyafter every two years in the form of a collaboration between the navies ofvarious countries to maintain a safe and sustainable maritime realm and,above all, enhance interoperability between regional and extra-regionalnavies,” Pakistan Fleet Commander Rear Admiral Naveed Ashraf said during amedia briefing.
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AMAN (Peace), a major multinational exercise is a biennial event organisedevery two years since 2007.
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All the participating navies had the common objective of ensuring peace andfreedom in maritime arena to provide safe and un interrupted flow of trade.
The word AMAN means ‘Peace’ and the slogan of the exercise is ‘Together forPeace’. A total 45 countries have committed to take part. A total elevenships from China, Japan, Russian Federation, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, UK, andUSA will participate along with 112 officials of participating countries asobservers.
Around 80 to 85 per cent of global trade by volume and over 70 per cent byvalue is carried by sea, only one percent by air and about 15 by land.
Indian ocean (IO) is the third largest in the world, hub of major searoutes connecting the Middle East, Africa and East Asia with Europe and theAmericas. These vital sea lanes, facilitate maritime trade in the IOregion, carry more than half of the world’s sea-borne oil and host 23 ofthe world’s top 100 container ports.
Pakistan, specifically, its Gwadar port occupies strategic locationoverlooking the Strait of Hormuz and the North Arabian Sea. All types ofoil and gas imports and 95 percent of trade of Pakistan is through the sea.
