He attended the International Fleet Review, the Western Pacific Naval Symposium, and Exercise MALABAR 2022

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar participated in a series of multilateral engagements while in Japan from November 5 to November 9, 2022, giving him the chance to hold productive discussions with heads of delegation from several friendly foreign countries who were in attendance.

"Progress of ongoing defence cooperation engagements being pursued with individual countries and opportunities to enhance constructive engagements in the maritime domain were discussed during these meetings," the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday.

While in Japan, CNS witnessed the International Fleet Review (IFR) that the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) conducted outside Yokosuka on November 6 in honor of the 70th anniversary of its formation.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, along with distinguished heads of delegations from participating Navies, was embarked on JMSDF Ship Izumo for the Fleet Review. India was represented by INS Shivalik and INS Kamorta.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the participation of the two Indian Navy ships that were constructed in-house at the IFR was an excellent way to show the other navies and the worldwide crowd how skilled Indian shipyards are at manufacturing ships.

After IFR, he also witnessed the 18th Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), which was held in Yokohama from November 22–23 and was hosted by Japan, which is the current WPNS Chair.

The Indian Navy has been an observer at the WPNS since 1998. Addressing the event, Admiral Hari Kumar emphasized the need for a rules-based order and highlighted the Indian Navy's and the IONS’ commitment to advancing the notion of "common responsibility" for maritime security in the Indo-Pacific.

In addition to representing India and the Indian Navy at the IFR and WPNS, he also witnessed the opening of Exercise MALABAR 2022, which was conducted in Yokosuka. Exercise MALABAR, which was started in 1992, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Talking about how significant CNS’ visit to Japan is, the Ministry of Defence said that his visit demonstrated India's steadfast support for multilateral maritime security arrangements in the Indo-Pacific and strengthened the strong bilateral defense ties with Japan.