Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba will flag off a ‘tall ships sail together’ expedition on Wednesday that will cover a distance of 1,200 nautical miles from Kochi to Muscat to retrace the trade links that existed between the erstwhile Malabar coast and the Persian Gulf.
The event is held as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS).
On Tuesday, when the event got under way, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, Commander of Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) Navy, which is currently chairing the multi-naval forum, called for a new working group to discuss the future of maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region.
He said that the maritime environment was changing and urged all Indian Ocean littorals to collectively take responsibility for the region’s security.
Special cover
Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, along with Rear Admiral Khanzadi and Kerala Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty Amma, released a special cover brought out by India Post to mark the occasion.
The special cover carries a map of the Indian Ocean and littoral countries of the IOR, signifying the geopolitical importance of the region. It also has a sail-boat that majestically symbolises the importance of ancient trade routes used by the natives of the region to establish trade and socio-cultural links with the countries in the region.
Chiefs of Navies of Bangladesh, Iran, Japan, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Netherlands, South Africa and the UAE as well as senior delegates from 16 other IONS member nations are attending the IONS anniversary celebrations. The prominent theme of the seminar on Tuesday was the need for information and resource sharing and enhanced maritime domain awareness of the IOR.
