Ms. Damiya Saghir completed her Bachelor's in Political Science from Kinnaird College and is currently pursuing her MPhil in Political Science from the same university. She is a Research Associate at the Maritime Centre of Excellence. Ms Damiya was previously employed as a project officer at the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT.) Her areas of interest include politics, defense studies, International Relations, and governance.
Aman Exercise of 2023
Pakistan Navy is set to kick off Aman-23 in Karachi. With over 50 countries participating this year, the multinational exercise aims to promote regional cooperation, stability, greater interoperability, and the display of a united resolve against terrorism and crimes in the maritime domain, including piracy.
Pakistan Navy conducted its first Aman exercise in 2007. As the name suggests ‘Peace’, the exercise follows a series of activities to promote stability, cooperation, and interoperability. The regional exercise is scheduled every two years. Up until now, Pakistan Navy has successfully organized seven Aman series of exercises with regional countries and beyond including Turkey, China, Bangladesh, France, Italy, Malaysia, Australia, Sri Lanka, Russia, and many more.
Indian Ocean and Maritime Trade
Over 90 percent of intercontinental trade moves on maritime highways. The sea lines of the Indian Ocean have steadily gained significance since the onset of this century and hence local and external powers have made their way into the maritime highways of the Indian Ocean. The region that connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans is home to the source of the most important rising economies.
The Indian Ocean is a conduit for energy transportation and trade that fuels major economies in Asia. Against this backdrop, the exercise has significantly contributed to ensuring security and stability in the region. The exercise also emphasizes how crucial it is to build up the region’s collective capacity for humanitarian aid.
Aman-23 in Karachi
The Aman-23 exercise is divided into two phases: the harbour phase and the sea phase. The harbour phase activities include friendly matches, ship visits, international band displays, demos on countering maritime terrorism, conferences, and tabletop discussions. The sea phase will unfold with an international fleet review along with other activities like surface firing and flypasts by air units.
In addition, various other exercises will be performed to practice response against maritime security threats in a multinational environment. Several activities are planned to develop tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) for combined action by multinational forces against asymmetric threats.
PIMEC
The Aman-23 exercise will be preceded by the Pakistan International Maritime Expo & Conference (PIMEC), another initiative of the Pakistan Navy. PIMEC is being organized under the patronage of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs from 10-12 Feb 2023 to jump-start the development of the maritime sector in Pakistan and to spur a blue economy.
This year PIMEC intends to focus on key areas such as investment and collaboration in the fields of port operations, maritime logistics, sea transportation, shipbuilding and repair, shipbreaking, fisheries and aquaculture, seabed resource exploration etcetera.
It is also equipped to provide opportunities for the maritime industry to display products at one forum and to interact directly with the international maritime community. PIMEC is a great forum to highlight Pakistan’s vast potential in the blue economy along with initiating joint ventures, transfer of technology, and research to provide an impetus to Pakistan’s industrial setup.
Under the auspices of the National Institute of Maritime Affairs, distinguished speakers will exchange views and approaches to various challenges related to the maritime sector. Pakistan Navy’s Aman Exercise is a manifestation of its commitment and contribution towards a peaceful oceanic environment. It is designed to provide a common forum for information sharing, mutual understanding, identifying areas of common interests developing and practicing response tactics, and intermingling of multinationals.
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