'Act East Policy': Admiral Lanba to visit Indonesia, to explore new avenues

New Delhi, Aug. 8 (ANI): With aims to consolidating maritime cooperation initiatives with Indonesia as well as exploring new avenues in accordance with India's 'Act East Policy', Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba will embark on an official tour to Indonesia from August 9-13. Admiral Lanba is scheduled to hold discussions with the Indonesian Defence Minister, Chief of Defence Forces, Chief of Indonesian Navy, besides other senior dignitaries and naval officers. India and Indonesia have historical linkages, which date back centuries. In the modern era, India and Indonesia have been co-founders of the Non Aligned Movement besides mutually beneficial collaborations in multilateral forums such as ARF, ADMM+, G20, WTO etc. Defence co-operation between India and Indonesia is robust and has seen ascendency through regular ships, aircraft and military delegation visits, training exchanges etc. Both countries had also signed the Defence Cooperation Agreement in 2001. Indonesia have adjoining Maritime Search and Rescue regions and Exclusive Economic Zones and share similar maritime challenges such as long coastline, extensive EEZ, coastal security, large coastal shipping and fishing fleet, wherein both navies have opportunities to learn from each other's experiences. In addition, common ground exists for cooperation on a number of issues common to both navies.(ANI)