NEW DELHI: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
Indonesia visit where both countries agreed that India would develop the Sabang port, the first Indian naval ship INS Sumitra paid its first visit to the port on Tuesday.
The naval visit coincided with a visit by senior Indian officials to Indonesia to explore ways of increasing connectivity between Sumatera and Andaman & Nicobar Islands and underlined the importance of sea links. An investment forum in Banda Aceh between the two sides included officials from Andaman -Nicobar administration and Indian companies based in Andaman-Nicobar islands.
In its last year, the government is pushing hard on delivering prime minister’s summit outcomes — this week, Indian officials have been in Indonesia and Nepal to speed up work on infrastructure in both countries, that were the promised deliverables.
In Nepal, officials from both sides met in a joint working group to operationalize the rail links that were a big deliverable of the PM’s visit earlier this year. Two rail link projects, Jayanagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas and Jogbani-Biratnagar are scheduled to have train services as soon as both sides complete some stretches by October this year.
In Indonesia, an official statement from the Indian embassy in
Jakarta said, “The ship (INS Sumitra) sailed from Port Blair and is visiting Sabang for a routine operational turnaround, wherein it will take provisions and fuel before going for further deployment in the
Indian Ocean. INS Sumitra is commanded by Cdr Rajesh Rana and has a complement of 17 officers and 129 crew.”
India will work to develop basic infrastructure in the area, while both countries are looking at tourism, especially cruise tourism and eco-tourism; air transport connectivity and sea transportation to facilitate trade between the two sides. Indonesian officials at the meeting assured the Indian side “the authorities would facilitate Indian investments in the region and trade relations with India.”
