Oman, Sep 28: India and Oman signed an agreement for exchange of White Shipping Information. This agreement was signed between the Indian Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, and Commander of Royal Navy of Oman Rear Admiral Saif bin Nasser bin Mohsen Al- Rahbi for maritime safety and security.
White Shipping Agreement is an information network protocol which allows the Navies of two countries to exchange information about ships in their oceanic territories. With this, Oman became the 22nd country to sign this agreement with India. So far 21 countries and 22 multinational agencies are associated with the Indian Navy to share information on maritime activities in the Indian Ocean region(IOR). The IOR, given its strategic location, is considered to be very important for driving global commerce, hence security measures are extremely helpful in this region. In a 3 day visit to Oman, Admiral Karambir Singh visited key defence installations and interacted with senior members of the Omani defence establishments.