Admiral Tan Sri Ahmad Kamarulzaman bin Haji Ahmad Badaruddin, Chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy, visited India from July 25-28, 2016. His visit was intended to consolidate the bilateral naval relations between India and Malaysia and also to explore new avenues for naval cooperation.

Admiral Tan Sri Ahmad Kamarulzaman bin Haji Ahmad Badaruddin held bilateral discussions with Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff. He also interacted with the Chairman COSC and Chief of Air Staff and Vice Chief of Army Staff. The Admiral was promoted to the rank of Admiral and assumed Command of the Royal Malaysian Navy on November 19, 2015, as the 19th Chief of Royal Malaysian Navy. Prior to taking over as the Chief of Royal Malaysian Navy, he was the Deputy Chief.

The Indian and the Royal Malaysian Navies cooperate with each other in terms of training, Passage Exercises, as well as interact at various multilateral forums like IONS, MILAN and ADMM Plus. Warships from both navies visit each other’s ports to build ‘bridges of friendship’. The ships of the Eastern Fleet recently visited Port Kelang as part of its Overseas Deployment to North West Pacific and held a first ever ‘Table Top’ Exercise on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief with the Royal Malaysian Navy.

Major issues that were discussed during the visit included training exchanges, improving Maritime Domain Awareness by sharing of white shipping information and exploring opportunities for bilateral exercises. The Chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy also visted Kochi and Visakhapatnam, where he interacted with the Commanders-in-Chief besides visiting ships and naval dockyard.