The Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training, meant to establish and enhance cooperation for maritime support in the Indo-Pacific region, began Monday in Singapore and virtually, the U.S. Navy announced.

The 20th iteration of the multilateral maritime exercise features 21 Indo-Pacific partner nations, including the U.S. Navy, and for the first time, international organizations and non-governmental organizations, the Navy said in a press release.

"In this region, the strength of our partnerships matter and our ability and willingness to work together is paramount," Vice Adm. Karl Thomas, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet, said in the release.

"This year's SEACAT aims to enhance our interoperability as we address our shared maritime security concerns and preserve rules-based international order," Thomas said.

A maritime operations center in the International Fusion Center in Singapore will be the hub for coordination and information sharing in the tracking of contracted merchant vessels simulating suspicious vessels in Southeast Asian seas, the Navy said.

The goal is to enhance cooperation between Southeast Asian countries and provide mutual support to address crises, contingencies and illegal activities in the maritime domain.

The scenarios urge countries to use maritime forces to enhance understanding of operational environment, human support missions capacity and uphold international laws and norms.

"The scenarios are designed to encourage countries to work together through maritime domain awareness assets to better understand operations and adherence to international norms," Capt. Tom Ogden, commander of Destroyer Squadron 7, said in the release.

"Practicing multilateral, multi-platform intercepts help our Southeast Asian partners prepare for possible real-world engagements in the future," Ogden said.

The maritime exercise includes 10 ships and over 400 personnel.

The U.S. Navy participants include the USS Tulsa, staff of DESRON 7, P-8A Poseidon aircraft assigned to Task Force 72 and personnel from Task Forces 73 and 76, U.S. 7th Fleet and U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Partner nations include Australia, Bangladesh, Britain, Brunei, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United States and Vietnam.

U.S. inter-agencies will also participate this year, including Joint Interagency Task Force West, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's executive agent for counter-narcotics, and Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which is a support agency for countering weapons of mass destruction.

The international and nongovernmental organizations included for the first time include United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, European Union Critical Maritime Route Wider Indian Ocean and International Committee of the Red Cross.

There will also be application of Women, Peace and Security principles to ensure respect for accepted standards for human rights and fair treatment of women.

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