New Delhi: Three weeks after India handed over a coastal radar system to the Maldives, Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar has met Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and other senior leaders of the island nation in its capital Male with a focus on further boosting the bilateral defence ties.
On his first visit abroad after taking charge as the Navy chief over four-and-a-half months ago, Admiral Kumar held extensive talks with Maldivian Defence Minister Mariya Ahmed Didi and Major General Abdulla Shamaal, the Chief of Defence Staff of the island nation, officials said.
After his meeting with Solih, the Indian High Commission in Male tweeted that the Chief of the Naval Staff reiterated India's commitment to enhancing maritime cooperation with the Maldives for a safe and secure Indian Ocean region.
Admiral Kumar began his three-day trip to the Maldives on Monday. The Navy chief also met Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.
Reaffirming India's commitment to the capacity-building efforts of the island nation, Admiral Kumar presented a consignment of engineering equipment for further sustenance of ships belonging to the Maldives National Defence Forces (MNDF), the officials said.
He also unveiled the first navigation chart jointly produced by India and the Maldives and handed over certain hydrography equipment to consolidate the organic capabilities of the MNDF, the officials said.
The Navy chief hosted a reception onboard Indian Naval Ship Sutlej on Monday in honour of the Maldivian defence minister and the leadership of the MNDF, they added.
INS Sutlej is currently deployed in the Maldives for undertaking a joint hydrographic survey under the provisions of an agreement on hydrographic cooperation.
"This visit further consolidated the strong and long-standing bilateral relations between two close maritime neighbours and also identified new avenues of expanding the scope of bilateral cooperation in the defence and maritime domains," an Indian Navy official said.
About Admiral Kumar's talks with Didi, the Maldivian Defence Ministry said the discussions focussed on ways to further boost the cooperation between the MNDF and the Indian Navy in the areas of maritime information sharing, maritime domain awareness and capacity-building initiatives.
It said Didi highlighted that the India-Maldives defence and security partnership is at its pinnacle, and thanked India for providing swift and unconditional support to the Maldives at all times.