Indian Navy ships have visited 16 ports in 8 countries as part of its efforts to increase engagement with East African nations in the last four months, the blue water force of the world's largest democracy said on Thursday.
Sharing a video named 'India and Africa - United by the Seas', the Indian Navy mentioned that the sojourn of its warships to South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, and the Seychelles was meant to forge strong ties and strengthen cooperation with these countries.
The Indian Navy added that during the four-month-long engagement program, four warships, the INS Tir, INS Sujata, INS Sunayna, and INS Trishul "fostered bridges of goodwill and camaraderie" with East African nations with maritime partnership exercises, capacity building training exercises and exchanges, and basic life-saving training programs.
Sharing a video named 'India and Africa - United by the Seas', the Indian Navy mentioned that the sojourn of its warships to South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, and the Seychelles was meant to forge strong ties and strengthen cooperation with these countries.
The Indian Navy added that during the four-month-long engagement program, four warships, the INS Tir, INS Sujata, INS Sunayna, and INS Trishul "fostered bridges of goodwill and camaraderie" with East African nations with maritime partnership exercises, capacity building training exercises and exchanges, and basic life-saving training programs.
With New Delhi emerging as a major power center in global geopolitics, the Indian government has intensified its efforts to gain a foothold in Africa.
Many African countries share India's British, French and Portuguese colonial heritage. Moreover, India's vibrant democracy has gained much traction in the African world, and New Delhi is helping these nations in various sectors like education, pharmaceuticals, engineering, etc.
Besides, New Delhi is also eyeing Africa for exports of its military hardware because India's high-quality defense equipment is not as costly as American or Western weapons. Additionally, India is open to setting up defense manufacturing hubs in friendly African states.
India's External Affairs Minister (EAM) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has been at the forefront of New Delhi's diplomatic outreach to African countries, having paid visits to a host of nations in the continent of late, including Namibia, and Tanzania, to name a few.
Last month, India and Tanzania announced a five-year defense cooperation plan.
Among the areas where the two countries agreed to extend their partnership were maritime cooperation, defense equipment manufacturing, and sharing military technology.