New Delhi, Mar 9 (IANS): The Navy on Saturday said that the senior naval leadership has reviewed existing and future plans, including capability enhancements in the island territories, to mitigate contemporary and future challenges in the maritime domain.

“Service Chiefs of the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force engaged with the naval commanders, sharing their assessment of the operating environment, outlining readiness levels to defend national interests amidst prevailing and evolving security challenges; numerous areas and domains to enhance Tri-Services synergy and cooperation,” the Navy said that the commanders reviewed these strategies during the first edition of the Biannual Naval Commanders’ Conference 2024 which concluded on March 8.

The Navy said that the naval commanders also interacted with various ‘Think Tanks’ during a ‘Sagar Manthan.'

“The forum provided an opportunity to engage with MSMEs, innovators and academia to deliberate ways, means and novel avenues to further Aatmanirbharta initiatives and enhance self-reliance in defence production,” the Navy said.

The Ministry of Defence said that the Biannual Naval Commanders’ Conference 2024 is an institutional forum that enables deliberations on important maritime security issues at the military-strategic level.

The ministry said that the inaugural session of the conference was held onboard the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

It said that the follow-on proceedings were conducted in New Delhi, in a hybrid format.

“Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, presided over the inaugural session, with Chief of the Defence Staff, Defence Secretary and other senior MoD officials and Naval Commanders in attendance,” the ministry said.