Dubai [UAE], August 9 (ANI): Two ships of the Indian Navy, INS Visakhapatnam and INS Trikand under the command of Rear Admiral Vineet McCarty, Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF) arrived at Port Rashid in Dubai to conduct bilateral exercise ‘Zayed Talwar’ to enhance interoperability and synergy between the two navies. The two ships are visiting Port Rashid from August 8 to August 11 and will be commanded by Captain Ashok Rao and Captain Pramod G Thomas respectively, the Ministry of Defence said in an official statement on Wednesday.
“During the visit, the ships will undertake professional interactions with UAE Naval Force on multiple elements of maritime operations,” according to the statement.
They will further share best practices to enhance cooperation and strengthen ties between the two navies. Moreover, according to the statement, this visit will boost the maritime partnership between the two navies and foster a common understanding of the security challenges in the region.
The ships have entered in Dubai with the aim of cooperative engagement and maritime cooperation with regional countries. The Indian Navy took to Twitter and said, “India-UAE #BridgesofFriendship Indigenous guided missile destroyer #INSVisakhapatnam with FOCWF embarked & ASW stealth frigate #INSTrikand are in #Dubai as part of #IndianNavy’s ops deployment towards co-operative engagement & maritime cooperation with regional countries. @IN_WNC”
Earlier, on Tuesday, Indian Embassy in UAE took to its official Twitter and said the ships arrived at Port Rashid for a bilateral exercise with UAE Navy. “Indian Embassy in UAE took to its official Twitter and said, “Two ships of the #IndianNavy – INS Visakhapatnam and INS Trikand arrived at Port Rashid, #Dubai for a bilateral exercise with #UAENavy. The exercise aims to share best practices and increase synergies between the two Navies. #IndiaUAE” the tweet said.
India and the UAE established diplomatic relations in 1972 and UAE opened its Embassy in Delhi in 1972 whereas, India opened its Embassy in Abu Dhabi in 1973, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.
The traditionally strong bilateral relations enjoyed by India and UAE received impetus with the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to UAE on August 16-17, 2015 which marked the beginning of a new strategic partnership between the two countries. Bilateral Defence Interaction between India and UAE has been steadily growing in accordance with other aspects of the bilateral relationship.
There have been regular high-level & functional level exchanges between the two countries. The ships of the navies of both countries have regularly made port calls to enhance bilateral defence cooperation. (ANI)
