The latest edition of ‘Sahyog-Kaijin,’ the Indo-Japan Coast Guard Joint Exercise, will begin in the Bay of Bengal off the Chennai coast on January 12.
The five-day event would witness seminars and exercises involving strategic assets of both the countries, besides meeting of high-level officials in Delhi and Chennai, sources said.
While one ship would represent the Japanese side, five to six ships are expected to participate from the Indian Coast Guard. The Commandant of the Japan Coast Guard would also meet his Indian counterpart in Delhi and later arrive in Chennai.
This would be the second time in the last three months that a ship from Japanese military is participating in an exercise with India in the Bay of Bengal.
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force’s, FS Fuyuzuk, called on the Chennai port in October last year and later participated in trilateral Malabar exercise with the Indian and the U.S. navies.
During the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India last month, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar had said that Japan would be a permanent partner in the Malabar naval exercise along with India and U.S. navies.
Japan is also likely to send its maritime assets to participate in the International Fleet Review to be conducted by the Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam next month.
Sahyog-Kaijin is held once in two years and the venue would shift between India and Japan on alternate occasions.
Source from India Defence News.
