India has donated a new patrol vessel and several vehicles to the Seychelles Defence Forces (SDF).
The donation includes the patrol vessel PS Lespwar, ambulances and utility vehicles.
Officials held a handover ceremony on Saturday, 27 June, at the Seychelles Coast Guard Base. The event took place in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Seychelles President Dr Patrick Herminie.
The new Seychelles Coast Guard vessel, PS Lespwar, was manufactured by Goa Shipyard Limited in India. Mr Abhishek Singh represented the company during the ceremony.
Chief of Defence Forces Major General Michael Rosette said the vessel will strengthen surveillance across Seychelles’ maritime zone.
“This new patrol vessel has a length of 51 metres and it allows us to have more capacity for surveillance in our maritime zone. And when we receive a boat like this we also need to do recruitment to get new crew even if we already have some that is already working on the vessel to take command on the vessel,” he said.
He added that the vessel will support several operations across the country’s maritime territory.
“This vessel will help us a lot because it will have its autonomy to cover our entire maritime territory and with its capacity it can help us with our fight against illegal maritime activities and other activities such as search and rescue, possible maritime pollution control and this vessel has been built to adapt for these types of mission,” Major General Rosette said.
India has previously donated vessels to Seychelles, including Zoroaster, Topaz, Constant and Boudeuse. Topaz and Constant has since been decommissioned.
India also donated a radar system to the SDF in the past. Major General Rosette said a team from India is currently in Seychelles to repair the system.
“We can say today that our radar system for internal islands such as Mahe, Praslin and La Digue, our system is fully operational and soon we will move to other stations on other islands to make it operational also,” he said.