The Indian Navy is fully seized of its role in maritime cooperation, the Navy chief said

Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh on Friday said maritime threats like piracy and drug trafficking have a "trans-national" character, and pitched for harnessing "collective military competency" to mutually learn from the best practices of navies .

Addressing the fourth conclave of defence attaches in Delhi, he said the Indian Navy is "committed to enhancing cooperation and engagement with like-minded navies in the Indian Ocean region".

"For seagoing forces, cooperation is a very important word, and the nature of the seas is such that they do not divide but unite and called the highways of connectivity. So, navy by nature operates in a cooperative domain," Admiral Singh said.

He said the vast expanse of the seas and oceans also makes a navy realise that one is not alone here, and, therefore "it becomes part of the naval DNA".

"Then there are various maritime threats and common challenges. Piracy, for example, involves attack in one country and cargo perhaps of another. Then there is drug trafficking which we call narco-terrorism, and human trafficking and illegal fishing. These all have a trans-national or inter-regional character," the Navy chief said.

The Indian Navy is fully seized of its role in maritime cooperation to draw from other navies' strength or learn from their best practices, he said.

The day-long event held at the Constitution Club of India was themed on "Enhancing Defence Capabilities Through Cooperation" and attended by defence attaches or military attaches of various countries.

"Navy is committed to enhance cooperation with like-minded navies in the Indian Ocean region, and our cooperation ethos is guided, as articulated by the prime minister, by the 5S - samman (honour), samvad (dialogue), sahyog (cooperation), shanti (peace) and samriddhi (prosperity)," he said.

Admiral Singh pitched for having a greater maritime cooperation and leveraging "collective military competency" of the world.