Press Information Bureau

Government of India
Ministry of Defence
08-March-2016 17:34 IST
Exercise Force -18 Culminates

Exercise Force 18, the largest ground forces multinational field training exercise on Humanitarian Mine
ActionandPeacekeepingOperationsculminatedatPunewithaclosingceremonywhichwaspresidedoverbyGeneral
Dalbir Singh, Chief ofArmy Staff. The week long exercise witnessed participation of over 300 foreign participants and
observersfromASEANPluscountries.

TheclosingceremonybeganwithmarchinginofcontingentsfromtheparticipatingASEANPluscountriesfollowed
byNationalAnthemand ASEANAnthem.TheChiefofArmyStaffhandedoverplaquestoallcontingentcommandersof
foreignarmiesandalsogaveawayAwardofExcellencetothebestperformersintheexercise.Excerptsofclosingaddress
byChiefofArmyStaffarecontainedbelow.

ThisexerciseinIndiaisawatershedeventinthehistoryofASEANDefenceMinistersmeeting(ADMM).Ithas
showcasedperfectharmonyamongsttheASEANPlusNationsinthefieldofHumanitarianMineActionandPeaceKeeping
Operations.

TheactivitiesconceivedandplannedundertheADMMPlusumbrellaareofstrategicimportancetoallofus.They
furthertheallencompassingaimforthepeace,stabilityanddevelopmentoftheregion.Theforumprovidesanequaland
beneficial playground for all the participants, harmonizing relations, building capacities and facilitating meaningful
interactionamongtheregionalplayers.

Sinceitsestablishment,theADMMPlushasmaderemarkableprogress.Theforumhasenabledalignmentofviews
tocollectivelyaddressthehumanitarianandsecuritychallengesthatconfrontus.Itprovides valuableplatformfor our
armedforcestoworktogether,inaconstructiveandmeaningfulmannertoenhancepeaceandsecurityoftheregion.

SharingtheresponsibilitiesforremovingExplosiveRemnantsofWar(ERW)isahumanitarianmatterandatopic
ofmutualconcernforourregionandtheinternationalcommunity.

Peacekeepingwithmultipletroopcontributingcountriesandmultidimensionalmandatesindynamicandcomplex
environment is a challenging task. It demands more intrusive consultative process for developing credible and legitimate
responsemechanisms.

The Exercise Force Eighteen gave all of us an excellent platform to introspect Country specific practices in
PeacekeepingOperations,andevolvecommonunderstandingtowardshandlingcomplexsituations.

SeniordignitariesfromtheparticipatingcountriesincludingDeputyChiefofGeneralStaffVietnamArmy,Senior
LieutenantGeneralVoVanTuanalsoattendedtheclosingceremony.Theeventwasthenfollowedbyspeechbycochairs
fromVietnam,SouthKoreaandIndia.

IndianArmy later displayed combat deployment of Special Forces using Indian origin Helicopters DHRUV. The
participantslaterwitnessedtheEquipmentdisplaybyIndianArmy,DRDO,PrivateandPublicSectorUnitsandNGOs.

ColRohanAnand,SM
PRO(Army)