The US and Bangladeshi navies on Tuesday began a three-day joint training exercise in the Bay of Bengal close to Burmese waters, according to Dhaka-based The Daily Star.The guided-missile frigate USS Ingraham (FFG 61) patrols the Persian Gulf. (Source: www.navy.mil)
The USS Ingraham docked on the Bangladeshi island of Kutubdia––situated just offshore between Cox's Bazar and Chittagong––on Monday with 200 US naval personnel, including 25 officers, led by Commander Adam J Welter, the report said.
After the three-day program, the 453-foot frigate is due to continue to Singapore. In September, the USS Ingraham was involved in relief efforts in American Samoa after an earthquake struck the region.
Addressing reporters, Commander Adam said that the objective of the program is to strengthen relationships, mutual cooperation and understanding between the two countries. He said the naval exchange would also help strengthen anti-terror vigilance by the Bangladeshi navy within its territorial waters.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Mrat Kraw, the editor of the Bangladesh-based Arakanese news agency Narinjara News, said, “Bangladesh is showing that it is prepared to cooperate with the US. At the same time, an American company is drilling for gas in the Bay of Bengal, so the US government is demonstrating that it will defend the territorial waters of Bangladesh. In the end, the Americans will benefit.”
Bangladesh and Burma share a 320-kilometer [200-mile] border with disputed boundaries. Tensions between the two nations have increased in recent years over offshore hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal authorized by the Burmese military government. In October, Bangladesh called on the UN Arbitration Court to resolve the dispute.
In January, Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint and Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Khurshid Alam held a meeting to discuss the territorial dispute.
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