Three Indian Navy vessels have paid a visit to South Africa for the first time in two years.
The three vessels were the INS Kolkata, INS Trikand and INS Aditya, which arrived in Durban under the command of Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF) Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ravneet Singh.
“The ships arrival demonstrates India’s commitment to its ties with South Africa and to maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region”, Singh said. They are based in Mumbai and are on two month long deployment to the Western Indian Ocean. Other countries in the visit included Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles.
During the visit, the Indian Naval Warships had calls to senior Government authorities. The visit, which took place between 20 and 23 September, was “a demonstration of India’s commitment to its ties with South Africa and to the maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region,” India’s ministry of defence said.
The last visit by an Indian Naval ship to South Africa was in November 2014, when INS Teg made port call at Simon’s Town and Cape Town as part of Exercise IBSAMAR, a trilateral maritime exercise involving navies of Brazil, India and South Africa. The SA Navy also participated in International Fleet Review hosted by India in February 2016 and was represented by the SAS Spioenkop.
