TWO Indonesian navy ships will arrive in Mindanao for a three-day goodwill visit starting on October 29 at Makar Wharf, General Santos City as Indonesia seeks to further improve relationship and closer cooperation with the Philippines.
Lieutenant James Reyes, spokesperson of Naval Forces of Eastern Mindanao (NFEM), these Indonesian vessels are Kri Sultan Hasanuddin-366 and Kri Sultan Iskandar Muda-377, which will dock on Sunday until November 1.
He added that part of the visit includes courtesy calls of the Indonesian navies to different security forces including Joint Task Force Gensan, Philippine National Police (PNP) Maritime Group, and the City Mayor of General Santos.
"Likewise, there will also be a hosted dinner reception between two navies and goodwill games among participating security forces and the Indonesian Navy," he said.
There will also a public viewing or shipboard tour onboard the two Indonesian vessels which will be open on October 30 to 31 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Last July, the annual coordinated marine patrol exercise between Philippines and Indonesia, dubbed as Corpat Philiindo 2017, kicked off in Davao City wherein both navies conducted joint exercises geared to strengthen common boundaries against maritime threats to prevent lawless armed groups from using the southern part as point of entry.
Meanwhile, NFEM will hold its Unilateral Fleet Training Exercise within Davao Gulf which involves its floating assets within Naval Task Group 71 area of responsibility from October 24 to 28 under Commander, Task Force Seahawk.