Adm R Hari Kumar, CNS is on a three-day official visit to Sultanate of Oman from 31 Jul – 02 Aug 2023. The visit aims to consolidate existing bilateral defence relations and high-level discussions with military leadership of Sultanate of Oman. During visit, CNS would call on His Excellency General Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Nu’amani, Minister of Royal Office, and hold bilateral discussions with his counterpart RAdm Saif bin Nasser bin Mohsen Al-Rahbi, Commander of Royal Navy of Oman RNO and with Maj Gen Matar bin Salim bin Rashid Al Balushi, Commander of Royal Army of Oman. CNS would also be visiting key defence and training installations in Oman. Coinciding with the visit, INSVisakhapatnam arrived at PortSultan Qaboos, Muscat on 30 Jul 2023 for a three-day port call, during which various naval cooperation events are scheduled with Royal Navy of Oman, which will culminate with a Maritime Partnership Exercise MPX on 03 Aug 2023. IndianNavy and RNO engage with each other under numerous Foreign Cooperation avenues, which include operations, training and exchange of Subject Matter Experts in various fields. The 13th edition of bilateral naval exercise NaseemAlBahr, an important biennial activity initiated in 1993, was conducted off Oman in 2022, and next edition is scheduled in 2024. Both navies also engage extensively under aegis of various multilateral constructs such as Indian Ocean Naval Symposium IONS. The relationship between Indian Navy and Royal Navy of Oman is in consonance with GoI vision of ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’ SAGAR.
