India, Japan conduct naval meet

MUMBAI: Recently the Japan Maritime Defence Force and the Indian Navy met in a multilateral forum to undertake coordinate anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.

On February 26, Vice Admiral Katsutoshi Kwano, chief of staff, Japan Maritime Self Defence Force accompanied by his spouse and high level delegation visited Mumbai.

During the visit, Kwano interacted with the Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, the flag officer commanding-in-chief and other senior officers ofthe Western Naval Command.

“Indo-Japanese Naval cooperation¬†and goodwill has grown substantially over the last two decades and both the navies share common maritime perspective. JMSDF and¬†Indian Naval Shipsundertake coordinate anti-piracy operations in¬†Gulf of Aden. Both navies have over the years built up high levels of interoperability,” said Chief PRO (Defence) N Vispute.

Vispute said that the first India-Japan maritime affairs security dialogue was held in New Delhi on January 29, 2013. Representatives of both the countries participated with their focus on maritime security including non-traditional threats and cooperation at various multilateral forums.

The current visit of COSJMSDF is one of the steps towards strengthening bi-lateral cooperation between the two Navies.

Via: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

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