Singapore confers Meritorious Service Medal to former Navy chief Sunil Lanba

Singapore: Former India Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba has been conferred Singapore’s prestigious military award, the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Tentera) or Meritorious Service Medal (Military) (MSM(M)), by President Halimah Yacob.

Lanba was conferred the award on Thursday for his outstanding contributions in enhancing the strong and long-standing bilateral defence relationship between the Indian Navy and the Republic of Singapore Navy.

Singapore's Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen presented the award to Lanba at an investiture held at the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF).

“Under Lanba’s leadership, both navies concluded the Bilateral Agreement for Navy Cooperation in November 2017 and the Implementing Arrangement for Mutual Coordination, Logistics and Services Support in June 2018, which established the framework for greater Navy-to-Navy interactions and expanded collaboration in areas of mutual interest such as submarine rescues, maritime-security information-sharing and logistics support,” an official statement said.

With Lanba’s support, both navies also commemorated the Silver Jubilee of the Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise in 2018 and successfully conducted the inaugural Singapore-India-Thailand Maritime Exercise (SITMEX) in September 2019, it said.

These professional exchanges have strengthened interoperability, deepened mutual understanding and trust between personnel from both the militaries, said Singapore’s Defence Ministry in the release on Thursday.

On receiving the award, ADM (retired) Lanba said, "It is an honour for me to have been awarded the MSM(M) by the Government of Singapore.

“India and Singapore are strategic partners and the two navies have long enjoyed a robust relationship as maritime neighbours. The efforts during my tenure were directed to further the process of engagement and complemented the relationship between our navies.

“I take great comfort in the fact that the two Navies have very consciously decided to move ahead in this direction," he added.

Lanba, who is in Singapore till September 10, also inspected the Guard of Honour at MINDEF, and called on Dr Ng, Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Melvyn Ong and Chief of Navy Rear-Admiral Aaron Beng.