New Delhi, Feb 10: A two-week long exercise involving 150 personnel from India, the US and 11 other nations to familiarise them with techniques and principles of peacekeeping in multilateral environment began here today. Code-named 'Shanti-Path-03' is the seventh of the series of such peacekeeping military exercises that the US and India have jointly undertaken in the past two years and is the first exercise of this scope and scale being undertaken in Asia Pacific region, US officials said.
The exercise involves battalion staff from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and US and civil police and other staff officers from Madagascar, Mauritius, Fiji, Mongolia, Malaysia, Thailand, Phillipines and Tonga.
Speaking at the inauguration of the exercise, US ambassador Robert D Blackwill touched on the growing Indo-US defence ties and said this collaboration enhanced military capacities on both sides.
"Exercises such as Shanti-path, reciprocal visits and bilateral exchanges are key building blocks for future US-India interoperability", he said.
Blackwill said no single India-US cooperation highlights the transformation of bilateral relationship more than their defence ties. Bureau Report