(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Indian Coast Guard Ship ICGS Vijit is on a visit to Qatar to share maritime experiences with naval personnel here.
The ship on a voyage to Gulf countries, choose Doha as its port of call to coincide with National Day celebrations.
"The purpose of our visit to Qatar and the region is based on common maritime interests with maritime law enforcement agencies," Rakesh Pal, Deputy Inspector-General, Commanding Office of the ship, told a press conference on board the ship at Doha port.
"The visit also aims to enhance cooperation between India and Qatar, already developed in previous visits of Indian Coast Guard ships to the country," he added.
Indian officers will meet Qatari Navy and Coast Guard officers to discuss naval activities.
"Some naval personal will visit the ship tomorrow (today) to know about the training, patrolling and recruitment processes of the Coast Guard. We are delighted to share how we do training for the Coast Guard and how we are coping up with the training pattern," he said.
The visit is significant in various aspects of defence cooperation between Qatar and India, said Indian Ambassador Sanjiv Arora.
In November 2008, both countries signed a five-year defence corporation agreement which was extended in 2013 by another five.
The agreement's implementation mechanism is a joint committee on corporation.
"Three meetings of the committee have been held, with the third in Doha in September 2013 and back to back two ships of Indian Navy visited Qatar," he said.
"The fourth meeting is scheduled for January 6-7, 2015 in New Delhi. So the visit of ICGS Vijit is significant," he added.
In the past two years four Indian Coast Guard ships have visited Doha, including ICGS Vijit.
"There is potential for further bolstering defence corporation.
"We have witnessed it with regard to participation in each other's conferences, seminars. There are possibilities of enhancing the potentials of Qatari defence forces in India's training establishments, we have been seeing a positive trend," said Arora.
S C Gupta, Executive Officer, ICGS Vijit, Ravi Kumar, Defence Attache, and Suman Sharma, Second Secretary, the Indian embassy, were also present at the press conference.
ICGS Vijit left Gujarat, India, on December 16 on a 25-day voyage. The next board of port is Bahrain, followed by Dubai and Muscat.
Vijit, meaning victorious, is a projection of Indian Coast Guard's will and commitment 'to serve and protect' the country's maritime interests.
It has 19 officers and 120 personnel. It is equipped with the most advanced navigation and communication equipment, sensors and machineries, the sustenance and reach and capability to perform the role of a command platform and accomplish all Coast Guard's charter of duties.
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