India hands over ALH to Maldives

Scaling up bilateral defence ties, India today handed over an Advanced Light Helicopter to Maldives, which will be mainly used for coastal survillance, search and rescue operations and medical evacuation.
Thanking India for its continued assistance in capacity building across his country's defence sector, Maldivian Defence Minister Col (Retd) Mohamed Nazim said defence cooperation between the two countries have been particularly 'impressive'.
"We have always enjoyed a very friendly and cordial relationship with our neighbours and India has always stood with us at our time of need and assisted Maldives in all aspects of our national development", he said after unveiling the aircraft frame, marking the symbolic gifting ceremony of the wholly indigeneous ALH from India to Maldives at INS Garuda.

"We are very thankful to the Indian Armed forces for their continued assistance in capacity-building across our defence sector. Especially for the assistance provided to our armed forces by the Indian Navy", Nazeem said.
Pointing out that Maldives is a country with scattered islands and limited resources which makes it impossible to monitor their vast zone, he said he hoped ties between the two countries would be further strengthened.
The Defence Minister arrived in Kerala today on the second leg of his visit to India.

The official visit, at the invitation of Indian Defence Minister A K Antony, had commenced at New Delhi on December 11.

Nazim visited Southern Naval Command establishments where Maldives National Defence Force personnel are being trained.
Flag Officer Commanding in Chief Southern Naval Command Vice Admiral Satish Soni said India considers Maldives a very important neighbour. "Maldives has been an outstanding contributor towards enhancing surveillance and security in the Indian Ocean region. Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) ships routinely contributed to anti piracy patrols, as a result of which the threat of piracy has receded," he said.
Later talking to reporters on the sidelines of the function, the Vice Admiral said since a helicopter is already stationed in the southernmost tip of the island nation, the new ALH would be sent to the northern region. The chopper will be manned by Indian defence force, he said.

On training of Maldivian naval personnel, he said 16 of them are being trained now. This year, 26 vacancies have been given to them. On an average 20-25 are undergoing training, the Vice Admiral said.
The Vice-Admiral skirted a query on whether Sri Lankan Naval personnel are being trained in India, saying it is a 'sensitive' issue. India has so far trained 10,000 foreign personnel so far, he said.