RAWALPINDI  -  The launching ceremony of state-of-the-art 4th Offshore Patrol Vessel, PNS YAMAMA (Desig) being built for Pakistan Navy was held at DAMEN Shipyard Galati, Romania. 

Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Ad­miral Ovais Ahmed Bilgrami attended the occasion as Chief Guest, an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) news release said on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff underscored the impor­tance of maritime security under the prevailing conventional and non-con­ventional maritime threats to energy and trade highways passing through Indian Ocean Region. In this context, he highlighted that Pakistan Navy had tremendous contribution in main­taining safe and secure sea environ­ment for maritime trade. The Admiral expressed his confidence that induc­tion of these multipurpose and highly adaptive platforms; equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and sen­sors will further strengthen combat capability of PN Fleet in safeguard­ing maritime frontiers while ensuring Maritime Security in the Indian Ocean Region, especially in the Arabian Sea. 

Earlier during his welcome ad­dress, Chief Operations Officer of DA­MEN Group Netherlands highlighted that DAMEN Shipyard and Pakistan Navy are enjoying historic relations since 1986. He highlighted that DA­MEN would continue to deliver cost effective, technologically advanced and potent ships to PN to meet their operational requirements. The launching ceremony was attended by high ranking officials from Roma­nian Government and Navy, Pakistan Navy, DAMEN and notables from Pak­istani community in Romania.