Visakhapatnam: In pursuance of India’s ‘Act East Policy’, Indian naval ships Sahyadri, Shivalik, Jyoti and Kamorta under the command of Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet Rear Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta are on an overseas deployment to the South East Asia and Southern Indian Ocean. Indian naval ships Sahyadri and Kamorta are on a port visit to Jakarta from May 26 to May 30, 2017 and to Surabaya from June 01 to June 05.
During the stay in harbour, various activities such as official calls, formal reception on board ships, ships open to visitors, guided tours for Indian naval personnel and professional interaction between naval personnel of both the nations have been planned. The visit of the Indian naval ships seeks to underline India’s peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly and harmonious countries towards ensuring good order in the maritime domain and to strengthen existing bonds between India and Indonesia.
The two countries share a rich history with deep civilisational links between the two countries. A number of bilateral agreements exist between the two countries in a various spheres. Indonesian President Joko Widodo had visited Indian in December 2016 and called on his counterpart Indian President Pranab Mukhe-rjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During the visit, the leaders had directed their respective ministers to convene the Defence Ministers’ Dialogue and the Joint Defence Cooperation Com-mittee (JDCC) meetings to review and upgrade the ‘Agreement on cooperative activities in the fields of defence’ to a substantive bilateral defence coope-ration agreement. The statement on maritime cooperation issued during the visit was one of the highlights.
