The Naval Commanders’ Conference of 2020 is scheduled at New Delhi from 19-21 August. The conference is the apex level event for interaction between the Naval Commanders. The Chief of the Naval Staff, with the Commanders-in-Chief, will review major operational, materiel, logistics, human resources, training and administrative activities undertaken during the year and deliberate upon the course to be steered in the future.
With Pakistan and China in mind, the Conference assumes greater significance in the backdrop of recent tension with China, coupled with the unprecedented challenges posed by Covid-19 and would provide the higher naval leadership a forum to discuss conduct of operations, sustenance and maintenance of assets, procurement issues, infrastructure development, human resource management, etc within the ambit of the new normal established by the pandemic.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to address the Naval Commanders on the opening day and interact with them. The conference is also the forum for interaction of Naval Commanders with other senior government officials. This is the first Naval Commanders’ Conference since the institution of Department of Military Affairs (DMA) and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). The conference would discuss upon the ways to optimise joint planning structures, Tri-Service Synergy, and operational readiness, as also functional reorganisation within the IN to improve efficiency. Keeping with the PM’s vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region), the Commanders would also undertake deliberations upon the larger security imperatives in the Indo-Pacific.