The commander of India’s Eastern Fleet, Rear Admiral Soonil Bhokare, said the exercise, to be held at the Malaysian navy base in Lumut, Perak on Monday, would be another milestone in strengthening the maritime security cooperation between the two navies.

Teams from both sides will plan how to prepare and conduct disaster relief and maritime security operations, he said at a press conference on board the Indian warship INS Shakti.

Rear Adm Bhokare said the exercise would help test the preparedness of both navies in mobilising their respective resources in terms of search and rescue operations to countries or islands hit by natural disasters.

Rear Adm Bhokare said Malaysian-Indian defence cooperation began in 1987 and had tremendously progressed, especially in the last two to three years.

He noted that the Indian Navy was a regular participant at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia.

The INS Shakti with two other Indian warships, INS Sahyadri and INS Kirch arrived at Port Klang yesterday for a four-day goodwill visit.

The last visit of the Eastern fleet to Malaysia was in June 2015 when the ships of the fleet visited Kuantan, Pahang.