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| Friday, 2 July 2004 |
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India ready to provide security in Malacca Strait: Natwar JAKARTA, Thursday (PTI) India has said it is ready to provide security in the Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest sea lanes and a victim of rising high seas piracy. External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, who is here to attend the ASEAN plus 3 meetings and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), was reacting to a request made by the three littoral states - Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Singh said it was in India's national interests to ensure the Strait remained a crime free sea lane. "From our side it is affirmative...details can be worked out but in principal 'Yes'," Singh told the local Jakarta Post. Singh said such cooperation is not new to India. "We are neighbours. Nicobar Island and the northern part of Sumatra are only 80 miles apart.. and the Malacca Strait is equally important strategically", he added. India and Indonesia began joint naval patrols off the Andaman islands in the Bay of Bengal to check poaching, smuggling and drug trafficking in 2002. |
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