09-10-2008, 12:05 AM
<b>Seychelles-India-Military cooperation</b>
<i>Seychelles receives military equipment from the Indian army</i>
APA - Victoria (Seychelles) The Indian High Commissioner to Seychelles Asit Kumar Nag on Thursday handed over to the Chief of Staff of the Seychelles People's Defence Forces (SPDF) Colonel Clifford Roseline workshop equipment for use by the country's coast guard.
The ceremony, which took place in New Port in the Seychellois capital, Victoria saw the presence of the Flag Officer Commanding the Indian Western Fleet, Rear Admiral Anil Chopra, and the commanding officers of two Indian naval vessels; INS Talwar and INS Godavari, which are presently on a goodwill mission to the country.
Colonel Roseline, who received the gifts, said that the visit of the vessels gives more impetus to the continuing defence cooperation that exists between the two countries and indicated that Seychelles has "special relations" with the Indian sub-continent.
Colonel Roseline added that such military cooperation have been further strengthened by the exchange of military delegations and by the help of Indian military experts who have trained military personnel of the SPDF following the signature of the technical and economic cooperation scheme between the two countries. He further indicated that the Indian army has on several occasions given military hardware to his forces.
Military cooperation between the Seychelles and India took place when Victoria sought the help of the Indian government to build the Seychelles Defence Academy in 1989. Since then, the Indian government has put military experts at the disposal of Seychelles in order to upgrade and restructure the SPDF.
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