Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, the visiting Chief of Royal Australian Navy, had detailed discussions on India-Australia maritime cooperation with Adm R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Naval Staff, in New Delhi.
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Amid growing incidents of maritime piracy, India and Australia on Wednesday discussed ways to strengthen maritime cooperation, including increased operational engagements, training exchanges and information sharing.
Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, the visiting Chief of Royal Australian Navy, had detailed discussions on India-Australia maritime cooperation with Adm R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Naval Staff, in New Delhi.
VAdm Hammond laid a ceremonial wreath at the National War Memorial and was thereafter welcomed with the customary Guard of Honour presented by the Indian Navy at the South Block on Wednesday.
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During the visit, he is also scheduled to call on the Chief of the Defence, Chief of the Air Staff and the defence secretary.
VAdm Hammond is scheduled to visit Indian Navy’s Southern Naval Command (at Kochi) and Western Naval Command (at Mumbai) wherein he would interact with the respective commanders-in-chiefs.
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 the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) and QUAD.
”Coming on the heels of successful participation of Royal Australian Ship HMNAS 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,” the Ministry of Defence said.
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