Seven Royal Saudi Naval Forces ships have reached Karachi to participate in the joint exercise 'Naseem al Bahr' with Pakistan Navy commencing from January 22. This was announced in a press release of ISPR (Navy) issued here on Tuesday.
It said that the current exercise, ninth in the series of Naseem al Bahr exercise, will involve participation of state of the art sea and air platforms besides special forces. The opening brief of the exercise was held at Pakistan Navy Tactical School here Tuesday. Chief of Staff and Acting CNS Vice Admiral Asaf Humayun was the chief guest on the session.
On the occasion, Commander Pakistan Fleet Vice Admiral Noman Bashir said that in the post 9/11 scenario, there has been a paradigm shift in the security calculus of the region. The asymmetric threat in the shape of trans-national terrorist networks poses a significant challenge for all the littoral states.
In quest for vital energy resources, the Gulf region and Arabian Sea are under major focus of key world powers. He also stressed upon the need for bilateral and multilateral operations to develop and enhance better interoperability between the naval forces striving together for achievement of regional maritime security.
Highlighting salient features of the exercise, Commander Pakistan Fleet said that during Naseem al Bhar-XI the units will be actively involved in exercise under multi threat environments along with host of other operations related to counter terrorism, convoy protection, anti air, anti submarine, mine counter measure and intelligence based operations.
He also said that both Pakistan and Royal Saudi Navies have come a long way and continue to maintain frequent interaction al all levels through joint seminars, sea exercise, officers' exchange programs and training.