New Delhi, August 09: Brazilian Navy Commander Admiral Julio Soares De Moura Neto today met the Indian defence top brass including Minister of State M M Pallam Raju and Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma here in an effort to further the defence cooperation between the two countries. This is the first visit of Admiral De Moura Neto and he is here on Admiral Verma”s invitation, a Navy press release said here.
“Discussions between the two Admirals were on common areas of interest relating to maritime security,operations and interoperability, ship design and manufacture and training,” the release said. The two navies would hold a maritime warfare exercise, also involving the South African Navy, in a trilateral wargame off the coast of South Africa in September this year.
It will be the second edition of the IBSAMAR (India-Brazil-South Africa Maritime Exercises), which was held for the first time a couple of years ago. These trilateral exercises were started as a result of the IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) Dialouge Forum at the ministerial level a few years ago, the release said.
During his stay in the capital, the Brazilian Admiral also met IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik and Army Chief General V K Singh. He is scheduled to visit the Western Naval Command at Mumbai in the last leg of his five-day visit to India, which will conclude on August 13.
—-PTI—