India and Australia on Wednesday here reviewed the entire spectrum of their bilateral maritime ties during talks between Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and his Australian counterpart Vice Admiral Mark Hammond.  He is on a visit to India from April 2-6.

Giving details of parleys between the two chiefs, Navy officials said discussions focused on avenues to strengthen bilateral maritime cooperation, including increased operational engagements, training exchanges, and information sharing.

India and Australia share commonality of perspective on several contemporary maritime security issues in the Indo- Pacific and have been working together closely in several bilateral and multilateral fora such as Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) and ASEAN Defence Minister’s Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) and QUAD.

Coming on the heels of successful participation of Royal Australian Ship HMAS Warramunga during MILAN 24 and recently conducted maritime exercises, the visit by the Chief of Royal Australian Navy further consolidates the strong and long lasting bilateral relations between both navies.

Meanwhile, the visiting chief laid a ceremonial wreath at the National War Memorial and was thereafter welcomed with the customary Guard of Honour presented by the Indian Navy at the South Block, New Delhi. He later called on Chief of Defence Staff(CDS)General Anil Chauhan and Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane.

Vice Admiral Mark Hammond will also be visiting the Southern Naval Command (at Kochi) and Western Naval Command (at Mumbai) wherein he would interact with the respective Commanders-in-Chief, visit INS Vikrant, Integrated Simulator Complex, Naval Dockyard (Mumbai) and M/s MDL.