Indian Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi met with General Yoshihide Yoshida, Chief of Staff of the Japan Self Defence Force, on Thursday in New Delhi.

This meeting was part of Exercise ‘MALABAR 2024,’ a military exercise involving India, Japan, the United States, and Australia aimed at promoting stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

During their meeting, General Yoshida and Admiral Tripathi discussed ways to enhance existing defence cooperation avenues, explore technological collaboration, and identify new opportunities to strengthen bilateral ties.

The Indian Navy shared pictures from the meeting, stating, “Gen Yoshihide Yoshida, Chief of Staff, Joint Staff, Japan Self Defence Force, on a visit to India for Exercise #MALABAR2024, interacted with Adm Dinesh K Tripathi, #CNS on #10Oct 24, #NewDelhi.”

“Discussions progressed on existing defence cooperation avenues, technological collaboration and new opportunities to strengthen bilateral ties towards a Free and Open #IndoPacific,” the post added.

On Wednesday, naval forces from Australia, Japan, and the US joined India for the opening ceremony of the field training exercise “Malabar 2024” in Vishakhapatnam.

This year marks the 28th iteration of the Malabar exercise, which began in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the United States and India. The exercise has since evolved in scope and complexity and now includes Japan and Australia.

This marks the fifth time that all four nations have participated in Malabar to advance the collective planning, integration and employment of advanced warfare tactics across participating nations.

Australian, Indian, Japanese, and US maritime forces routinely operate together across the Indo-Pacific in support of regional security and stability. The lead of this year’s exercise is India.

The Malabar planning and exercise lead rotates each year among participating nations, along with the exercise location to demonstrate the combined ability to exercise across the entire Western Pacific and Indian Ocean.