: A total of 11 foreign naval ships and eight foreign delegations visited the Southern Naval Command, the Training Command of the Navy, since January last year.
Of these, four ships and three delegations made their visit this year, registering a surge in naval diplomatic and training relations with the Indian Navy, said a navy official.
Vice-Admiral Sunil Lanba, heading the command, had earlier this month told The Hindu that several foreign navies were eager to train and exercise with the Indian Navy.
“We are constrained to restrict the number of foreign cadets at the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala to six, though many navies have expressed their desire to send in cadets to train at INA.” But the Navy continued to train personnel from friendly nations at several establishments under the command, he said.
While ministerial and naval delegations from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Sweden, Israel, the US and Tanzania have sent in high-level delegations to the training command, naval ships from Australia, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan and Iran called at the port here since January last, conducting training exchanges and working level interactions.
The latest in the series are the arrival of Indonesian Naval Ship KRI Banjarmasin, a Landing Platform Dock on Tuesday and the visit of a nine-member high-level delegation led by General Davis Adolf Mwamunyange, Chief of Defence Forces of Tanzania.
Arriving from Delhi, Mr. Mwamunyange had held discussions with Vice-Admiral Lanba on issues of mutual interest including piracy attacks in the region and joint maritime cooperation.
The Tanzanian defence chief witnessed aspects of Indian Navy training and visited the Coast Guard district headquarters in Kochi.
