Continuing the defence engagement with India, Commander of the Royal Navy Of Oman (CRNO) Rear Admiral Saif Bin Nasser Bin Mohsin Al Rahbi is on an official visit from February 13 to 17 for Navy to Navy staff talks. He is scheduled to visit the Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR).
The visit comes close on the heels of the visit, early this month, by Secretary General, Ministry of Defence of Oman Mohammed Nasser Al Zaabi for the 10th round of the Joint Military Cooperation Committee (JMMC) meeting, which was held after three years.
“The visit [of CRNO] aims to consolidate bilateral relations and explore avenues for defence cooperation,” the Navy said on Monday. Earlier in the day, the visiting Navy Chief paid homage at the National War Memorial and was accorded a 50-men Guard of Honour on South Block lawns.
He held discussions with his counterpart Admiral R. Harikumar to explore avenues to further enhance cooperation between the Navies.
He is also scheduled to visit the Navy’s Western Naval Command in Mumbai where he would visit ships at the Naval Dockyard. Both Navies have been participating in the biennial maritime exercise ‘Naseem Al Bahr’ since 1993. This exercise was last conducted in 2020 off Goa and the next edition is scheduled later this year.
Information exchange and maritime domain awareness are important avenues of cooperation, a defence official said.
In line with India’s push on defence exports, the two sides are exploring possible opportunities for procurement and joint production of equipment. The Oman Air Force chief is also expected to visit India soon and the two Air Forces are scheduled to hold a bilateral exercise which will see the participation of over 150 personnel from Oman.
The JMCC is the highest forum of engagement between the two countries in the field of defence and during the last meeting, it was decided to “identify new avenues and examine areas of mutual interest for joint venture to enhance defence industry cooperation”.
Conduct of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise involving the three services and enhancing the scope and complexities of the existing joint exercises were also discussed. Both countries agreed to work together to combat drug trafficking prevalent in the North Arabian Sea, the Defence Ministry said.
While India’s defence engagement with the Gulf region has significantly expanded in the last few years, Oman remains India’s closest defence partner in the region. It is the only country with which all three services of the Indian armed forces conduct regular bilateral exercises and staff talks and also the only country in West Asia with which India has a bilateral logistics agreement.
Defence exchanges are guided by a Framework Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which was renewed in 2021.
As part of its anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden, the Navy has deployed its P-8I long–range maritime surveillance aircraft for anti-piracy patrol sorties from Salalah in Oman on a few occasions extending the reach and operational turnaround.
