Eighteen nations from ‘Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’ Plus including United States, China and Russia will participate in the largest `Multinational Field Training Exercise’ being conducted at Pune from March 2.

Theme of the exercise is `Humanitarian Mine Action’ (HMA) and `Peacekeeping Operations’ (PKO).

This will be the maiden multinational exercise ever conducted by the ground on Indian soil, which will see participation of 18 ASEAN Plus nations including United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea among others. It is conducted by India as part of its ambitious Look (Act) East policy and it is one of the largest multi-national military exercises conducted in the country. The exercise will allow the armies of these countries to develop a common understanding in handling any complex situation.

Indian Army contingent of 40 soldiers is being led by Lt .Colonel Sofia Qureshi. She is the first women officer to lead Indian contingent in such exercise.

In this seven-day military exercise (till March 8, 2016) over 300 participants from 18 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Plus countries are participating.

Participating countries

ASEAN countries along with ASEAN Plus nations viz. India, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, China, South Korea, Russia and US . 10 ASEAN countries from South East Asia are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.