The Malaysian navy and its Indian counterpart will conduct the first joint table top exercise (TTX) to strengthen humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations capabilities of the two navies in the event of natural disasters.

Flag Officer Commanding of India's Eastern Fleet, Rear Admiral Soonil V. Bhokare said the war gaming simulation exercise, to be held in the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) base in Lumut, Perak next Monday, would be another milestone in strengthening the maritime security cooperation between the two navies.

"In the table top exercise, planning team from both sides of the navy will sit across the table and plan out how to conduct exercise right from planning to execution stage (on matters involving HADR and maritime security operations)," he said.

He disclosed this at a press conference on board the Indian warship 'INS Shakti' at Boustead Cruise Centre here, last night. Also present was Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia, T.S. Trimurti.

Soonil Bhokare said the table top exercise is a focused practice activity that places the participants in a simulated situation and tests the preparedness of both navies in mobilising their respective resources in terms of search and rescue operation to countries or islands hit by natural disasters.

Soonil Bhokare said the defence cooperation of Malaysia and India started in 1987 and since then it had tremendously progressed, especially in the last two to three years.

He noted that the Indian Navy was a regular participant at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) in Malaysia.

'INS Shakti' together with two other Indian warships, 'INS Sahyadri' and 'INS Kirch' under his command arrived at Port Klang yesterday for a four-day goodwill visit to enhance cooperation between the RMN and Indian navy.

The last visit of the Eastern fleet to Malaysia was on June 2015 when the ships of the fleet visited Kuantan, Pahang.