India delivers 100 tonne of liquid oxygen and 300 oxygen concentrators to Vietnam

New Delhi, Aug 31: India delivered 100 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) and 300 oxygen concentrators to Vietnam to help the Southeast Asian country in its battle against COVID-19. Indian Naval Ship (INS) Airavat arrived at Ho Chi Minh City port in Vietnam with the relief material on Monday, a statement from the Indian Navy said.

 

 

INS Airavat, an indigenously built landing ship tank based in Visakhapatnam under India’s Eastern Naval Command, is on a deployment to southeast Asia for trans-shipment of covid-19 relief, the statement said. It should be noted that the INS Airavat had earlier transported 10 Liquid Medical Oxygen Containers requested by the Government of Indonesia to Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta earlier this month.

 

 

“As part of the Government of India’s vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region), the Indian Navy has been proactively engaging with countries in the region and has been at the forefront of numerous humanitarian missions spanning the entire extent of the Indian Ocean including South, South East Asia and East Africa," the Indian Navy said in a statement.

 

 

The reference was to the intensive maritime diplomacy by Indian naval ships in India’s extended neighborhood since the start of the pandemic last year. This has included missions ferrying stranded Indians home as well as reaching food and medical assistance to countries in the extended neighborhood. Indian naval ships have also transported LMO from countries in India’s neighborhood when the second deadly wave of the pandemic hit the country in April-May.

 

 

Referring to India-Vietnam ties, the Indian Navy statement said, “India and Vietnam enjoy a strong traditional bond of friendship and have been working together towards a safer maritime domain. The two navies cooperate in various areas including a composite training programme in the fields of the submarine, aviation and technical training, and regularly carry out joint naval exercises in the form of bilateral exercises. The current deployment of the ship aims to further strengthen the strategic relationship," it said.

“The ship will depart Ho Chi Minh City post disembarkation of the medical supplies and as part of the ongoing Mission SAGAR continue onwards to deliver medical supplies to other friendly nations in the region," it added.