Two Indian Coast Guard Ships to visit SL

Two Indian Coast Guard Ships, CGS Samar and Aryaman, would arrive in Sri Lanka on Saturday furthering the cooperation between the two Coast Guards of India and Sri Lanka, the Indian High Commission said yesterday (30).

In a statement, the High Commission said the ships would arrive in Colombo after participating in the India-sri Lanka-maldives Trilateral Coast Guard Exercise ‘Dosti’ that was conducted from November 25-29 in the Maldives.

“Two junior Sri Lanka Coast Guard Officers have also been onboard the ships since their departure from India on November 23 to provide them with valuable sea experience and first hand insight into Coast Guard operations. During their stay in Sri Lanka, the ships would also be visiting Galle.the visit is aimed at furthering the level of cooperation and interoperability that exists between Coast Guards of both the nations and to assist in capacity building of the Sri Lanka Coast Guard,” it said.

It said the interaction between the two coast guards has seen a steady increase over the years with a number of high level delegations and four ship visits undertaken by the Indian Coast Guard to Sri Lanka since last year. During their visit, the Indian Coast Guard ships will undertake training on aspects such as search and rescue, vessel search procedures, documentation and pollution control.

In addition, a series of professional exchanges and sports fixtures have been also been planned ashore between the ships’ crew and the

Sri Lanka Coast Guard personnel in Colombo and Galle as well.