NEW DELHI, March 24 Xinhua) -- Indian government Friday said it was going to conduct joint military exercises with several countries including China, United Kingdom, Russia and United States this year to boost military ties and enhance bilateral defence cooperation.

The information was given by India's junior minister for Defense Subhash Bhamre in the parliament.

"Military exercises are to be conducted with Australia, Bangladesh, China, France, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Russia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States of America during the year 2017," Bhamre told parliament.

According to Bhamre to boost the military co-operation with other countries, a number of activities like, high level official visits, exchange of military experiences, participation in each others' military courses, trainings, seminars, workshops, visit to each other's military establishments are undertaken.

This month Indian military conducted joint military exercises with Oman and Nepal in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand respectively.

Defense analysts say such programmes enable participating military personnel to learn and adopt best practices of their counterparts.