Indian naval ship Sharda calls in Port Victoria |06 February 2024

Today is the last day of the two-day visit by Indian naval ship, Sharda, in Port Victoria as part of her mission to escort PS Zoroaster for the Multilateral Naval Exercise (Ex-Milan) at Visakhapatnam.

The Indian navy has been organising multilateral exercise biennially since 1995 and Ex-Milan has expanded with government of India’s ‘Act East policy' and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) vision, to include participation from other friendly foreign countries (FFCs).

During the port call, the commanding officer of INS Sharda will call on the Chief of Seychelles Defence Forces, Brigadier Michael Rosette and other senior officers of the Seychelles Defence Forces and meet with the High Commissioner of India, Kartik Pande. Ship officers and crew will also take part in yoga sessions.

In addition, upon her return journey, the ship will escort PS Zoroaster which will be taking part in Ex-Milan, undertaking joint EEZ surveillance en-route.

PS Zoroaster is an advanced, powerful and fuel efficient vessel capable of carrying out anti-smuggling and anti-poaching operations. 

INS Sharda is an offshore patrol vessel (OPV) based at Kochi under the Southern Naval Command of the Indian navy. The ship is designed to undertake fleet support operations, anti-piracy patrol, coastal and offshore patrolling, monitoring of sea lines of communication and EEZ surveillance, protection of offshore assets, high availability disaster recovery (HADR) and logistics support operations.

The visitwill further enhance India-Seychelles maritime co-operation towards enhancing maritime security in the Indian Ocean region.

Contributed