Constructive Engagement by Indian Navy in SE, East Asia

New Delhi, Mar 29 (UNI) Aiming to gain -- and share -- operational and doctrinal expertise, examine and imbibe 'best-practices', promote inter-operability and enhance 'maritime domain awareness, elements of the Indian Navy are currently ''constructively engaged'' in the South-east and East Asian regions on an 'Overseas Deployment'.

Ships of the Eastern Fleet -- under the command of Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet Rear Admiral RK Dhowan -- will during the two-month deployment -- from March 18 to May 23 -- call at a number of ports spreading the message of goodwill, presenting a microcosmic mosaic of India in every facet -- from the sociological to the technological and building 'Bridges of Friendship' across the seas that make every littoral state a neighbour of India.

Briefing mediapersons here today about the Naval deployment, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral Pradeep Chauhan said the group consisted of the Guided-Missile Destroyers 'Mysore', 'Rana' and 'Ranjit', the Guided-Missile Corvette 'Kuthar' and the Fleet Tanker 'Jyoti'.

The scheduled ports of call include Singapore and Yokosuka -- located at the entrance of Tokyo Bay in Japan. The port call at Yokosuka was particularly significant being a major event in the ongoing celebrations of 2007 as the 'India-Japan Friendship Year'.

No less important were port-calls at Qingdao -- located on the southern coast of the Shandong peninsula of China, bordering the Yellow Sea -- and Vladivostok -- located on the Sea of Japan some 100 km east of the Russo-Chinese border.

Also of significance were port-calls at Ho Chi Minh City -- located near the Mekong river delta in Vietnam and earlier known as Saigon -- and Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

Rear Admiral Chauhan said the deployment was an intrinsic part of the ongoing effort at 'constructive engagement' within the maritime field being undertaken by the Indian Navy in concert with other instruments and mechanisms of the nation's diplomacy.

''The port-calls and the opportunities to engage and exercise with the Navies of the regions will enable the Indian Navy gain and share operational and doctrinal expertise, transformational experiences, examine and imbibe 'best-practices', promote inter- operability and enhance 'maritime domain awareness' -- all of which are areas that the Indian Navy lays special emphasis upon....'' The first of the exercises to be undertaken during the current deployment would be the 2007 edition of the bilateral exercise 'SIMBEX' -- a regular feature of the operational interaction between the Indian Navy and the Navy of the Republic of Singapore involving both harbour and sea-going segments.

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