US Ambassador, Consul General visit Western Naval Command

United States Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster and US Consul General Edgard D Kagan visited the Western Naval Command Headquarters and interacted with Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, a senior defence official said Saturday.

The US dignitaries also visited the INS Kochi, a guided missile destroyer, the Defence PRO added.

The current visit by the US ambassador would further strengthen the existing bonds between the two navies, he said.

The PRO said that Indo-US naval cooperation had grown substantially over the last two decades and the two nations are party to an annual maritime security dialogue.

He said that the navies of the two countries are committed to ensuring maritime security in the Indian Ocean region.

The official said that cooperation between them is spread over a wide canvas, which included an annual bilateral exercise "Malabar", goodwill visits by ships and high level delegation interaction.

Navies of both the countries share converging views on maritime areas of concern, anti-piracy as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, he said.