Pakistan, Malaysia seek to collaborate to develop their maritime sectors

Royal Malaysian Navy Sea Power Centre (RMN-SPC) delegation led by Rear Admiral Dato Pahlawan Abd Halim Bin Hj Shaari, Cdr Naval Edu and Trg, along with Def Advisor of Malaysia, Col Noraripin Bin Othman, visited NIMA-K for a table talk discussion.

Cdre (retd) Ali Abbas SI(M), Director NIMA-K, extended a warm welcome to the RMN-SPC dignitaries. The topic of the table talk discussion was ‘Blue Economy: Way Forward for Sustainable Development of the Indian Ocean Region’. Prominent experts from the maritime sector were also invited as panellists in the discussion.

The panellists included DG NIO Samina Kidwai, M Moazzam Khan, Executive Director PNSC Khurram Mirza, Cdre (retd) Irfan Taj SI(M), Engr Faisal Iftikhar, Javed Iqbal, Capt. Shadman Akhtar, Capt. Imran Masood, Dr Zafarullah, Dr Idrees and Cdr Faisal Sadiq.

In the beginning of the discussion the delegates of the RMN-SPC briefed about the working of the RMN-SPC to the participants, and offered collaboration on maritime security commitment and interconnection between blue economies for the development of the maritime sectors of both nations.

During the discussion, various discussants of maritime sectors proposed collaboration on fish farming, training in aqua culture, development of linkage between oceanographic departments of the two nations, conducting collaborative researches, developing communication between shipping lines of both countries to follow the IMO’s regulations, etc.

Rear Admiral Dato Pahlawan Abd Halim Bin Hj Shaari in his closing remarks praised the efforts of NIMA to bring multiple maritime stakeholders together to explore multiple sectors to collaborate on.

He also showed keen interest in NIMA’s working, and wished to strengthen their bond with NIMA. The table talk discussion ended with an expression of desire from both sides to have more interactions in future to explore the potential of the maritime sector in both countries.