UN event highlights India-Oman maritime ties through maiden voyage of stitched sail vessel

The maiden voyage of Indian Navy’s conventional stitched sail vessel Indian Naval Crusing Vessel (INSV) Kaundinya from Porbandar to Muscat was highlighted at a United Nations (UN) event, with audio system stressing centuries-old maritime traditions and cooperation at a time of tensions affecting international delivery routes.

The Everlasting Mission of India to the UN and the Oman Mission to the UN co-organised the event titled ‘Historic Commerce Routes: The Journey of INSV Kaundinya’ on the UN headquarters on Friday (Might 15, 2026).

Indian Navy Commodore Amit Srivastava, Commander Vikas Sheoran who skippered the vessel, and Expedition Officer Commander Y. Hemant Kumar attended and addressed the event.

“This is a vital event. We’re having a each day dialogue a couple of sure form of a maritime disaster that’s impacting us, our nations and our residents, but we even have centuries-old maritime traditions of peaceable commerce and commerce, exchanges which have survived centuries,” India’s Everlasting Consultant to the UN Parvathaneni Harish mentioned in his remarks.

Although he didn’t point out it instantly, Ambassador Harish’s remarks appeared to confer with considerations over disruptions across the Strait of Hormuz amid the continuing battle in West Asia. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s power provides move through the slim waterway.

INSV Kaundinya, the Indian Navy’s indigenously constructed conventional stitched crusing vessel, sailed on its maiden abroad voyage from Porbandar in Gujarat to Muscat in Oman on December 29, 2025.

The Everlasting Mission of India to the UN mentioned the voyages of INSV Kaundinya, a stitched-plank crusing vessel impressed by historic Indian shipbuilding traditions, spotlight India’s historic maritime commerce routes throughout the Indian Ocean connecting India with the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.

“These historic commerce routes spotlight the longstanding position of India and Oman as accountable maritime civilizations,” it mentioned.

Underlining that India and Oman share a maritime relationship that goes again centuries, Mr. Harish mentioned the event highlighted that “oceans join us like they all the time have.” He added, “At a time when the world is debating tips on how to handle and defend shared ocean areas, it is price remembering that the peoples of our area had been already doing so through commerce, through belief, and through common exchanges and call lengthy earlier than fashionable worldwide regulation and the regulation of the ocean really got here into being.”

Mr. Harish additional mentioned the UN Conference on the Regulation of the Sea (UNCLOS) supplies a authorized framework for governing the world’s oceans at the moment, “however frameworks work finest when they’re grounded in a real sense of shared goal and in belief.”

“Occasions like this one assist construct that sense of goal. They remind us that the ocean is a standard area, one which belongs to all of us and have to be protected by all of us,” he added. The sailors of INSV Kaundinya shared particulars of the latest expedition retracing historic Indian Ocean commerce routes with UN envoys, officers and dignitaries.

Everlasting Consultant of the Sultanate of Oman to the United Nations Omar Mentioned Omar Alkathiri mentioned that through the “outstanding voyage of INSV Kaundinya, we’re reminded of the deep-rooted and cherished relationship between our nations, one which has flourished within the coronary heart of the Indian Ocean for hundreds of years.” He mentioned, “Our maritime previous affords priceless classes for current and future ocean governance. The spirit of cooperation that outlined Oman and India’s relation conjures up us to collaborate and method managing marine sources and safeguarding biodiversity.”

Mr. Alkathiri mentioned the vessel’s arrival in Oman’s waters was met with heat and admiration, “serving as a reminder of our shared historical past” and offering a basis for renewed cooperation. “The voyage underscored the significance of cultural alternate and fostering belief, innovation and resilience,” he mentioned.

“It invitations us to honour the legacy of those that got here earlier than us by working collectively to guard the ocean for individuals who will comply with,” Mr. Alkathiri mentioned.