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AN Indian navy vessel, the INS Tarkash, arrived at Walvis Bay on Monday as part of her long-range operational deployment.
The ship departed from her home port on 27 June, transiting across the Gulf of Aden, Suez Canal, Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, and made port calls at Djibouti, Egypt, Spain, Senegal, Brazil, Togo, Nigeria and Gabon.
It was also involved in the maiden anti-piracy deployment in the high risk area of Gulf of Guinea, the first by an Indian warship, closely working with regional navies to address non-traditional maritime threats.
Over 15 000 trainees from nearly 46 countries have been trained through the International Training and Education Centre for Health at various units of the Indian armed forces.
The Indian navy, as part of her mission-based deployment philosophy, deploys ships in maritime areas of interest to India to ensure that national interests are protected.
The captain of the vessel, Abraham Samuel, at the on-deck reception ceremony on Tuesday, said he hopes to see more seats being made available by the Namibian armed forces.
“We value our ties with Namibia, the trade we enjoy with each other, the close military relationship that we have with each other and the visit of our ship is to further cement the bridges of friendship that we have established across the seas.
“India’s continued commitment to capacity building through the Indian technical and economic cooperation and other bilateral frameworks in Namibia has been a solid pillar of the country’s defence cooperation.
“Namibia has also made vacancies at various training units of the armed forces available and we do hope that in the coming years we will see an upward revision in the seats being made available by the Namibian armed forces,” Samuel said.
The visit to Namibia will also offer some new avenues for enhancing relationships in the maritime domain.
During the three-day stay, the crew will have interaction with Namibian senior dignitaries and military officials, join in capacity building activities like professional exchanges on fire fighting and damage control, medical lectures and a cross deck visit.
The current operations officer at the navy headquarters at Walvis Bay, commander Clemens Kashuupulwa, extended a word of welcome to the vessel crew.
“The Namibian navy has a good relationship with the Indian navy. We cooperate in various fields. We have our people that are attending training in Indian institutions. We appreciate the training. It is exciting to have them here. They are always welcome here,” he said.
Community exchange programmes like yoga sport fixtures, and ship visits for visitors, will also take place, while tree planting took place at the Tutaleni High School on Wednesday.
The vessel previously visited Walvis Bay in 2017 and 2019.
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