Navy Chief Sunil Lanba on four-day visit to UK from March 12

NEW DELHI: Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will begin his four-day visit to the UK from Tuesday with an aim to further consolidate bilateral maritime ties and explore new avenues of cooperation.

During the visit, Admiral Lanba is scheduled to hold talks with the Chief of Defence Staff, UK and Chief of the Naval Staff of the Royal Navy, the Indian Navy said.

Admiral Lanba is also scheduled to visit the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) in London, RN Submarine Rescue Facility at Glasgow and interact with the organisers of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Edinburgh.

The visit of Admiral Lanba to the UK from March 12 to March 15 will consolidate existing maritime cooperation initiatives as well as explore new avenues for cooperation, the Navy said.

The Indian Navy has had traditional links with the Royal Navy (RN) of the UK.

With the constitution of the Indo-UK Defence Consultative Group (DCG) and the Military Sub Group (MSG) in 1995, a two-tier structure of cooperation was established for progress on various areas of defence cooperation.

In September 2004, the two countries inked a pact to embark upon a strategic partnership in which defence cooperation figured prominently.