New Delhi, Nov 14 (IANS): A three-member training delegation of the Armed Forces of Liberia visited training establishments of the Indian Navy in Kochi and the Indian Naval Academy with focus on strengthening India-Liberia maritime cooperation, the Indian Navy said on Saturday. “A three-member training delegation of the Armed Forces of Liberia, led by Chief of Training Lt Col Eden T. Jally, visited training establishments of Indian Navy at Kochi, and Indian Naval Academy from 09-13 Nov 26,” the Indian Navy posted on X. Highlighting the focus of the visit, the Navy said, “The delegation interacted with trainers and visited advanced training facilities and simulators. The interaction focused on expanding training opportunities and strengthening the capacity-building partnership between India and Liberia.”
On October 9, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers (GoF S4), led by India and Liberia, aims to bring the safety of seafarers and commercial shipping to the centre of global discourse and enhance international cooperation to keep ships and crews safe from attacks. India and Liberia launched the GoF on S4 on September 25 and stand ready to support more coordination to discourage recurrence of such attacks and to safeguard the rights of seafarers. Addressing a bi-weekly media briefing in New Delhi, MEA’s official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the group seeks to bring together countries and stakeholders involved in commercial shipping and the maritime industry, as well as those that are lead providers of services or have a large seafaring community.
“The idea is to get them together so that we can bring the issue of the safety of our seafarers and the issue of the safety of commercial shipping to the centre of global discourse and discussion, and we can enhance international cooperation and operations so as to ensure that commercial shipping is not impacted, they are not attacked, and the seafarers are safe and secure,” Jaiswal had said. The spokesperson recalled that the first meeting of the group took place in New York. It was presided over by External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar and Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti and was joined by 25 countries.
