1. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launches IFC-IOR at IMAC in Gurugram
• Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the Information Fusion Centre - Indian Ocean Region, IFC-IOR at the Information Management and Analysis Centre, IMAC in Gurugram.
• The objective of having an IFC-IOR is more for partners, equals to work towards keeping the global commons safe and democratically available for all.
• In addition to utilising the collective wisdom and resources towards addressing the myriad challenges in the region, the IFC-IOR will help interface and integrate, wherein, the country will benefit from each other’s best practices and expertise.
• IFC-IOR will help foster bonds of trust, camaraderie and partnership.
• It will also aim to work closely with the multi-national constructs and other information fusion centres.
• The IFC-IOR will work towards capability building in the region, coordination of incident response and disaster relief in time and share submarine safety information.
2. Indian and Chinese troops conclude 7th round of counter terrorism military exercises
• Indian and Chinese troops today concluded the seventh round of counter terrorism military exercises in China`s Chengdu city.
• This was India`s first military drill with China after the 73-day standoff at Doklam last year. The `Hand-in-Hand` exercises were not held in 2017 after tensions escalated between the two armies.
• the aim of the exercises is to build closer relations between the militaries of India and China.
• The specially-designed drills were in keeping with the spirit of this year`s summit at Wuhan between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping to improve ties between the two nations.