Sri Lanka has donated two patrol vessels to the Seychelles Coast Guard for maritime surveillance. The small island nations’s coast guard received the two Wave Rider inshore patrol crafts on Friday 1 Febuary, during a two-day official visit from the Sri Lankan Vice President, Vincent Meriton.
The two Wave Rider inshore patrol boats were donated following a request by the Seychelles Government during a state visit by the Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in 2018, to discuss bilateral relations.
“Today, we are reminded of the importance that our sister island attaches to the specific needs of Seychelles in the protection and management of our Exclusive Economic Zone.”
Meriton was quoted saying:
Seychelles, a small island nation located in the Western Indian Ocean has a large Exclusive Economic Zone of 1.4 million square kilometres, which presents a challenge when it comes to the monitoring of illegal activities.
“donation of these new wave rider boats to the Seychelles Coast Guard demonstrates yet again the willingness of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to hold fast with Seychelles in our efforts to safeguard our territorial waters.”
Vincent Meriton
Presently, a maritime security team from the Seychelles Coast Guard are undergoing a three-weeks intensive training in Colombo harbour, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is also currently providing Seychelles with training on maritime security following an agreement signed with the Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College (CINEC) in August 2013.
In 2018, the Seychelles Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal for a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Seychelles Maritime Safety Administration and CINEC which will recognise and approve the navigation and engineering cadet training programmes and associated ancillary programmes offered by the college.
Wave Rider Inshore Patrol Boats
The Waverider was designed to withstand the harshest of weather conditions. It was manufacture in Sri Lanka. It has an overall lenght of 5.5 meters, with a maximum weight of 1451 kg. It can carry ten fully equipped personnel.