Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, Chief of Royal Australian Navy, is on an official visit to India from April 2 to 6. The visit is aimed to strengthen bilateral maritime relations of the two nations.
This five day journey is scheduled for his visit across India’s prominent maritime regions and meeting at key cities.
His second day started from a visit to New Delhi on Wednesday, April 3 where he interacted with Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Naval Staff. The discussion was based on increasing operational engagements, training exchanges, and information sharing.
The discussion started off after Hammond laid a ceremonial tribute at the National War Memorial and was later welcomed with the customary Guard of Honour presented by the Indian Navy. Later he will also call on the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of the Air Staff and Defence Secretary during his stay in New Delhi.
This itinerary also includes his visit to Mumbai and Kochi where he will be welcomed to the Southern Naval Command (at Kochi) and Western Naval Command (at Mumbai).
His later interaction is scheduled to be with the respective Commanders-in-Chief and visit to INS Vikrant, Integrated Simulator Complex, Naval Dockyard (Mumbai) and M/s MDL.
India and Australia share similar views on a variety of maritime safety issues in the Indo-Pacific region. Both countries have worked closely together in numerous bilateral and multilateral venues, including the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus), and QUAD.
Vice Admiral Hammond’s visit comes after the Royal Australian Ship HMAS Warramunga participation at MILAN 24. India and Australia have also successfully completed other recent maritime exercises Like AUSINDEX naval exercise held in Sydney in August 2023. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also visited INS Vikrant during his India visit last year. These visits strengthen India and Australia’s long-standing naval relations, highlighting a shared commitment to maritime security and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.