The Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond has visited India to meet with the Indian Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral R Hari Kumar. The meeting took place in New Delhi on 3 April. Discussions focused on avenues to strengthen bilateral maritime cooperation, including increased operational engagements, training exchanges and information sharing.
During his official visit Vice Admiral Hammond was also scheduled to visit the Indian Navy’s Southern Naval Command (at Kochi), the Western Naval Command (at Mumbai) as well as the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.
The Indian Navy, in their report of the visit said “India and Australia share commonality of perspective on several contemporary maritime security issues in the Indo- Pacific and have been working together closely in several bilateral and multilateral fora such as Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), ASEAN Defence Minister’s Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) and QUAD. Coming on the heels of successful participation of Royal Australian Ship HMAS Warramunga during MILAN 24 and recently conducted maritime exercises, the visit by the Chief of Royal Australian Navy further consolidates the strong and long lasting bilateral relations between both navies.”
Source: IN
