India, Aus vow to boost naval ties

New Delhi, September 29

Indian Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar ended his three-day visit to Australia last night. Kumar and Australian military leaders have highlighted the need for raising the level of synergy and focused efforts for overcoming the challenges of the maritime environment.

The visit came after the participation of warship INS Satpura and Maritime Patrol Aircraft P8-I in the recently concluded exercise ‘Kakadu’ hosted by Australia.

India and Australia share commonality of perspectives on several contemporary maritime security issues in the Indo-Pacific and have been working together closely in multilateral fora such as the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, Indian Ocean Rim Association and Western Pacific Naval Symposium.

Kumar held meetings with Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, Chief of Navy, Royal Australian Navy, Vice Admiral David Johnston, Vice Chief of Australian Defence Forces, Greg Moriarty, Secretary of Defence, and Air Marshal Robert Chipman, Chief of Royal Australian Air Force. Chief Admiral Kumar also visited facilities at HMAS Penguin and Hydrographic School.