Representatives of 17 countries have taken part in the main conference on the planning of the Ukrainian-American drills Sea Breeze – 2017.

The purpose of this year drills is to conduct a multinational security operations in a crisis region, the press center of the command of the Naval Forces of Ukraine said on Friday.

"During the conference we have worked out a detailed plan and scenario of maneuvers, identified a potential of participants, coordinated interaction of sea, land and air components, reviewed the areas where the exercises will be conducted [...] We have worked out the structure of the staff with the involvement of foreign experts, which will be similar to the respective NATO headquarters'," the press center quoted the chief of exercises leadership Staff Sea Breeze - 2017 from the Ukrainian side, Kostiantyn Plakhotniuk, as saying.

The press center also stressed that the number of participants of the main conference surpassed similar events in previous years, reflecting an increase of interest in the series of drills Sea Breeze from the international community.

The event, which lasted four days in Odesa, was attended by representatives of Ukraine, the U.S., Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Great Britain, France, Canada, Moldova, Germany, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden and Turkey.

Sea Breeze - 2017 is scheduled for this summer.

Ukrainian-American exercises of Sea Breeze series have been annually held since 1997 in accordance with the "Memorandum of understanding and cooperation on defense and military relations between the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the U.S. Department of Defense" dated 1993. They are held for the purpose of training and capacity-readiness of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on a bilateral basis, but are also open to other countries.