Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, who is also chairman of chiefs of staff committee is visiting USA from 18 to 22 September to meet the top leadership of US Navy and present his views in a seapower symposium (ISS) hosted by the US Navy.
He will address the gathering on the topic ‘defending the maritime commons: safeguarding the free and international order’.
During the he will hold bilateral discussions with Admiral John M Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Philip S Davidson, Commander, Indo-Pacific Command (INDO-PACOM), Admiral John C Aquilino, Commander, Pacific Fleet (PACFLT), Admiral James G Foggo, Commander Naval Forces, Europe and Vice Admiral Scott Stearney, Commander NAVCENT and Commander 5th Fleet of the US Navy.
Admiral Sunil Lamba will also interact with the chiefs of navies of Japan, France, Australia, UK, Malaysia and Sweden.
In an official statement Indian Navy said, “India and USA have traditionally maintained close and friendly relations. The Defence relationship between the two countries has been one of mutual trust and confidence.”
Indian Navy engages with the world’s most powerful navy – US Navy – in several ways including joint military exercises like MALABAR and RIMPAC series of exercises, training exchanges, exchange of white shipping information and subject matter expert exchanges in various fields, all of which are coordinated through the mechanism of ESG (Executive Steering Group).
Warships from both the navies regularly make port calls at each other’s ports to increase goodwill between them.