ANI
Monday, April 25, 2011
Speaking to media accompanying her on her visit to that island-nation, Patil said: "We are committed to work with the government of Mauritius to jointly fight piracy and enhance security in the Indian Ocean through mutually agreed measures."
Patil also said India "will help the Mauritian government in setting up an anti-terrorism cell".
Somali based pirates continue to cause serious challenges to merchant vessels transiting the Indian Ocean.
According to EU NAVFOR statistics, there are 26 vessels and 582 crew held captive off the coast of Somalia. This does not take into account an unknown number of smaller dhows and fishing vessels that have been seized.
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reported that Somali pirates hijacked 49 vessels in 2010, an increase from 47 in 2009.
In October last year, India and Mauritius conducted anti-pracy exercises.
Officers of the National Coast Guard (NCG) and Indian Navy ships Mysore and Tabar took part in the event from October 6 to 8.
The objective of this visit was to train the NCG officers and the Mauritius Police Force (MPF), to express goodwill and to carry surveillance in the country's waters.
During the three-day exercise, MPF and NCG officers learnt how to board a ship, conduct a search and rescue exercise and perform a slithering operation from the helicopter.
Mauritius now has trained commandos to deal with any incidents in the deep seas, but no big naval ship.
Source: ANI