Navy chief on six-day official visit to Australia

Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan is on a six-day visit to Australia to consolidate existing maritime cooperation initiatives as well as explore new avenues.
The Admiral's visit to Australia from October 2 to 7, has been programmed to coincide with the prestigious annual 'Sea Power Conference' organised by the Australia Navy. The forum provides opportunities to engage with heads of over 40 navies.
The defence cooperation between India and Australia is robust and is primarily focused towards maritime cooperation.
India and Australia signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement in 2006 as well as a Framework for Defence Cooperation in November 2014, which envisages regular ship visits as well as high level exchanges.

Indian Navy and Royal Australian Navy are partners in the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), a maritime cooperation construct conceptualised and pioneered by Indian Navy in 2008.
The conduct of the first Bilateral Maritime Exercise 'AUSINDEX', off India's East coast last month was a landmark event between the two navies, a statement by the Navy here said.

India-Australia share similar maritime challenges such as long coastline, extensive EEZ, coastal security, large coastal shipping and fishing fleet, where in both Navies have opportunities to learn from each other's experiences.
In addition, common grounds exists for cooperation in ship-building, especially under India's 'Make in India' initiative, the statement said.

During the visit, Dhowan is scheduled to hold discussions with the Chief of the Royal Australian Navy, Vice Chief of Defence Staff, Defence Secretary and other Senior Naval Officers.