Context

India, Maldives and Sri Lanka are holding the 15th edition of the biennial trilateral coast guard exercise ‘Dosti’, in Maldives.

About

About the trilateral exercise

• The Exercise began primarily in 1991 as a bilateral engagement, involving only Indian and Maldives Coast Guards.
  • Sri Lanka joined in 2012 to make it a trilateral exercise.
• The aim of India-Maldives-Sri Lanka tri-lateral exercise 'Dosti'' is to
  • further fortify the friendship
  • enhance mutual operational capability, and exercise interoperability
  • to build cooperation between the Coast Guards of Maldives, India and Sri Lanka
• This exercise is significant for India because Maldives & Sri Lanka are of strategic importance to India & its maritime security interests.
• Year 2021 marks the 30th year of the Dosti Trilateral Coast Guard Exercise.

Key-focus areas of the Exercise

• The Exercises carried out over the past ten years have focused on exercises and drills on providing assistance in sea accidents, eliminating sea pollution, and the Coast Guard's procedure and conduct during situations such as oil spills.