There is increasing defence co-operation between India and Qatar which has been discussed at the highest levels of both the countries, revealed the Indian ambassador.

Speaking to the media on board ICGS Sankalp, the 5th Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel of the Indian Coast Guard, which is on a goodwill visit to Qatar and three other GCC countries, ambassador Sanjiv Arora said there will be substantial interaction with the counterparts of the Qatar Coast guards during the visit.

Arora explained: “India has hiked the foreign direct investment in the defence sector up to 49%. There are indications that there is an increased interest in this regard from the Qatari side. India also has highly advanced and specialised network for building ship, aircraft and many other hardware. Along with it, India is known for well established scientific capabilities, innovation and research as well as highly advanced software technology. These are all areas of keen interest to the Qatar side.”

The Indian envoy also disclosed that Qatar Emiri Naval Staff Chief, Maj.General (sea) Mohamed Nasser al-Mohannadi, will lead a high level Qatari delegation to take part in the International Fleet Review (IFR) event to be held in Vishakhapatnam next month. “It is a signature global event. The previous one was held in 2001. Qatar will have a great presence in the event. We had a fruitful meeting with Mohannadi recently,” recalled Arora.

The Indian ambassador also pointed out that various training programmes between both the countries are going on at different levels.

“A senior Qatari armed forces officer attended recently a course at National Defence College, India, a prestigious course for defence personnel. We are in the process of arranging a large size Indian team for the forth coming DIMDEX in Doha in March. We have also invited the Qatari counterparts for the Defexpo India 2016 to be held in Goa in March.”

The ambassador noted that India would welcome opportunities for joint military exercises with Qatar as happening in the case of some other countries in the region.

Deputy Inspector General Mukul Garg, commanding officer, ICGS Sankalp said that the visit aims to enhance the defence cooperation between both the countries. “We aim to identify areas of mutual interest such as maritime security sea pollution, piracy and armed robbery among others. Doha is the first destination for us. We will travel from here to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman.”

Mukesh Sharma, executive officer, Sankalp, Captain Ravi Kumar, defence attache, Indian embassy and K Chinna Swamy, press officer, Indian embassy also were present at the press conference.

ICGS Sankalp will be at Doha Port until Thursday, in conjunction with the celebrations of India’s 67th Republic Day (tomorrow).

ICGS Sankalp has 16 officers and 97 other personnel under the command of deputy inspector general Mukul Garg. The ship is based at Mumbai, under the administrative and operational command of Coast Guard Regional Commander (West), Mumbai.

The 105m AOPV is equipped with state of the art navigational and communication sensors and other equipment and is capable of embarking Advanced Light Helicopters and Chetak helicopters. At economical speed, she has an endurance of 6500 nautical miles and can stay at sea for 25 days without any replenishment.