8th Indo- Maldives Joint Military Exercise to be held in Belgaum

Pune, Dec 14: Eighth edition of Exercise EKUVERIN will be held from December 15 to 28 at Belgaum, in Karnataka.

The bilateral annual Exercise is a 14-day joint military training between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force, which is conducted alternatively in India and Maldives since 2009.
The seventh edition of the exercise was held at Kadhdhoo, Lammu Atoll, Maldives in December 2016. 
The Exercise named ‘EKUVERIN’ means 'friends' in the Maldivian language.
The focus of the exercise is to acquaint both armies with each other’s operating procedures in the backdrop of an counter insurgency counter terrorist operations in an urban , semi urban environment under the United Nations (UN) charter, with an overall aim to enhance interoperability between the two armies, an official release said. 
The exercise will see the contingents hone their tactical and technical skills. The exercise will also give an opportunity to the two armies to activate the Joint Operations Centre at Belgaum. 
Maldives is a South Asian Island country located in the Indian Ocean, which consists of 1192 Coral Islands grouped into a chain of 26 Atolls spread over 90,000 sq km. UNI