India-Japan Coast Guards conduct joint excercise
Gujarat Global News Network, Delhi
A mock drill on the deep seas by the Indian and Japan Coast Guard units on Sunday marked the Indo-Japan Coast Guard Joint Exercises. It alternates between India and Japan every year.
The joint exercise along with 11th high level meeting was organized off the Bay of Bengal. Here where fleets headed by the newly-commissioned Indian Coast Guard vessel Vishwast and the Japanese ship Settsu simulated a range of search-and-rescue, pollution control and anti-piracy operations.
The five-day visit, was in pursuance of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC), signed between the two Coast Guards on 24 November 2006, which stipulates that the heads of the two organizations meet alternately in India and Japan, to discuss maritime issues of mutual concerns and formulate a cooperative approach to address these.
The drill began with a pollution response demonstration featuring a helicopter operation, during which spraying is undertaken to contain an oil spill. The joint exercise named Sahyog-Kaijin-XI” was supervised by ICG Director-General Vice-Admiral M. P. Muralidharan and his Japanese counterpart Admiral Hisayasu Suzuki, Commandant of the Japan Coast Guard.
The fleet deployed for the near two-hour exercise included 11 surface units — Coast Guard ships Sagar, Sarang, Vigraha, Vajra, Rani Abbakka, Sarojini Naidu and Priyadarshini — high-speed interceptor boats C-151 and C-146, hovercraft H-151 and H-181 and six air units comprising three Dornier aircraft and three Chetak helicopters.
The Memorandum of Cooperation between the two Coast Guards encompasses issues of maritime search and rescue, combating marine pollution, technical assistance for responding to natural disasters and exchange of information regarding crimes at sea, including smuggling and illicit trafficking.
The first ICG-JCG combined exercises were carried out in November 2000 off Chennai, in which one JCG ship participated and was overseen by a high level delegation of JCG, led by the then Commandant of JCG. This also laid the foundation for development of close interaction between the two organisations that included regular visits and exercises, sharing of information and expertise and training visits.
During the 11th ICG-JCG High Level discussions, it was mutually agreed to strengthen the cooperation on evolving collaborative approach, in addressing a spectrum of maritime issues concerning safety and security. The visit was also very significant in providing renewed impetus to strong ties that exist between the two Coast Guards as the Japan Coast Guard Ship has visited India, after a gap of six years, for the combined exercises with the ICG off Chennai.
A delegation from the Information Sharing Centre, Singapore established under the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) also participated in the exercise. This was significant in furthering the interaction among the participating agencies on anti-piracy issues.
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