ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday participated in the opening ceremony of multinational military exercises in Russia’s Astrakhan region, the Inter-Services Public Relations said.

A contingent of 20 Pakistani commandos took part in the opening ceremony of Kavkaz-2020.

The military drills, which will be held from Sept 21-26 aim to assess ability of troops to react to various challenges and learn from each other’s experiences, the ISPR said.

Troops from six countries are taking part in the Kav­kaz-2020 command and staff exercise. These include military units from Armenia, Belarus, China, Myanmar and Pakistan.

Representatives from Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Sri Lanka are participating as observers.

Earlier this month, Chair­man of Joint Chiefs of Staff Com­mittee, Gen Nadeem Raza, visited Russia to attend a defence and security cooperation conference at the SCO forum. He had a meeting with Chief of General Staff of the Russian Federation, Gen Valery V. Gerasimov, during which bilateral defence ties and regional security situation came under discussion.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2020