Rear Admiral Tanguy Botman, Commander of the Belgian Navy, is on an official visit to India aimed at strengthening bilateral maritime cooperation and further deepening Navy-to-Navy engagements between the two countries, the Ministry of Defence said on Saturday.

Source: IANS

On arrival, Rear Admiral Botman paid homage to fallen soldiers by laying a wreath at the National War Memorial and was thereafter accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour at South Block, according to the official release carried by ANI.

Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat

During the visit, Botman held discussions with Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Chief of the Naval Staff, on a range of issues of mutual interest, including maritime security, operational engagements, training, personnel exchanges and collaboration in naval technology.

The Ministry of Defence described the visit as an important milestone in bilateral Navy-to-Navy relations, saying it is expected to provide further impetus to maritime cooperation through strengthened existing engagements and exploration of new avenues for collaboration.

Visit builds on September defence engagement

The naval visit follows the September visit to India by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, who was accompanied by Belgian Minister of Defence and Foreign Trade Theo Francken. During that visit, India and Belgium signed a Letter of Intent on Defence Cooperation and an MoU between the Belgian Security and Defence Industry Association and the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers, and India announced it would appoint a Defence Attache to Brussels.

Belgian technology for Indian maritime programmes is a key area of focus, including mine countermeasures, autonomous maritime systems, underwater robotics, advanced sensors and the protection of critical infrastructure such as ports, pipelines and subsea data cables, IANS reported.