Last month, India formally commenced cooperation with the Bahrain-based multilateral partnership, Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). However, the modalities of the exact nature of cooperation are being worked out, according to official sources.
At the India-US 2+2 in April this year, India had announced that it would join the CMF as an Associate Partner, which Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had then said will strengthen cooperation in regional security in the Western Indian Ocean. Joining the CMF is the latest in a series of multilateral engagements by the Indian Navy as part of India’s widening military diplomacy.
End of July, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (DCNS) Vice Adm. Sanjay Mahindru visited the headquarters of CMF, which the Navy said marks “the initiation of the Indian Navy’s ‘Associate Support’ to CMF in keeping with India’s commitment to the collective responsibility of maritime security in the Indian Ocean.”
