Navy chief to visit Bangladesh

New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS) Indian Navy chief Admiral R.K. Dhowan will visit Bangladesh Feb 23-25 to further consolidate defence relations between the two countries, the defence ministry said Monday.

The visit will also explore new avenues for naval cooperation towards achieving comprehensive maritime security in the Bay of Bengal, the ministry said in a statement.

During his stay in Bangladesh, the navy chief is scheduled to hold bilateral discussions with the three service chiefs in Dhaka as well as call on the president and the prime minister.

He will also visit various training and operational facilities at Khulna and Chittagong.

"The Indian and Bangladeshi navies cooperate with each other in various areas of technical training, participation in Victory Day celebrations, navy to navy staff talks as well as through interactions at various multilateral fora such as the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, and the Western Pacific Naval Symposium," the ministry said.

"The Bangladeshi Navy has been regularly participating in the MILAN series of exercises conducted by the Indian Navy at Port Blair, and warships from both navies call at each other's ports. These avenues for cooperation provide excellent opportunity for professional exchanges, developing inter-operability and to build camaraderie," it said.

The major issues likely to be discussed by the navy chief during the visit include exchange of white shipping information towards development of comprehensive maritime domain awareness, cooperation in maritime infrastructure development, training and exchange of subject matter experts.

In addition, the Bangladeshi Navy has been invited to attend the prestigious International Fleet Review being organised by the Indian Navy in Visakhapatnam in February 2016.