Courtesy The Hindustan Times

Sri Lankan state minister of defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon met Union defence minister Rajnath Singh, minister of state for defence Ajay Bhatt, defence secretary Ajay Kumar, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan and the three service chiefs

India has reiterated its readiness to continue supporting Sri Lanka in the defence sphere during a meeting between the visiting Sri Lankan state minister of defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon and minister of state for defence Ajay Bhatt.

Tennakoon is visiting India with a three-member delegation comprising army and navy officers to participate in the biennial global defence exhibition DefExpo2022. This is the first high-level visit from the Sri Lankan side since bilateral ties hit a rough patch over the visit of a Chinese surveillance to Hambantota port in August.

Besides meeting Bhatt, Tennakoon and his delegation also had interactions with Union defence minister Rajnath Singh, defence secretary Ajay Kumar, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan and the three service chiefs of India.

During the meeting with Bhatt on October 17, the Indian side reiterated its readiness to continue to support Sri Lanka in the defence sphere”, according to a readout from the Indian high commission in Colombo.

India will continue to strengthen its multi-dimensional cooperation with Sri Lanka for mutual benefit and also for enhancing regional peace, security and stability,” the readout added.

This is the second time in the past year that a Sri Lankan minister has participated at an event inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ministers from Sri Lanka were part of the event to mark the inaugural international flight to Kushinagar airport in October 2021.

Speaking at DefExpo2022, Tennakoon hailed the India-Sri Lanka partnership in defence and highlighted the importance of the defence industrial base in augmenting security policy.

India and Sri Lanka have maintained bilateral engagements in defence despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The SLINEX naval exercise and the Mitra Shakti army exercise are held every year alternatively in India and Sri Lanka, and both armed forces collaborate closely in dealing with common security challenges such as drug and human trafficking, the readout said.

The Colombo Security Conclave – which brings together senior security officials from the Maldives, Mauritius, India and Sri Lanka – has emerged as a key platform to address security issues at a regional level. In August, the first Dornier reconnaissance aircraft provided by India was inducted into the Sri Lankan Air Force to enhance the country’s maritime surveillance capabilities.

However, ties between Colombo and New Delhi hit a rough patch when the Yuan Wang 5, a Chinese vessel with extensive surveillance capabilities, docked at the Hambantota port, which is controlled by the Chinese. Since then, officials from both ties have worked to restore ties to an even keel.

India and Sri Lanka also cooperate closely in training and capacity building in the defence sphere. Indian military establishments, including the National Defence College, have produced leaders of the Sri Lankan armed forces. Every year, 1,500 to 1,700 slots are allocated to Sri Lankan personnel, which amounts to an outlay of around ₹500 million to ₹550 million (more than $6 million). Similarly, Indian military officers are hosted by the armed forces of Sri Lanka, including for specialised training modules in fields such as counter-insurgency.

Both sides also cooperate on humanitarian issues, as reflected by joint efforts to avert large-scale environmental damage, expeditious supply of liquid medical oxygen and other materials, repatriation of around 700 Indian nationals with the assistance of Sri Lanka’s armed forces during the pandemic.

The futuristic partnership between the two neighbours underscores India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy as well as Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) doctrine,” the readout said.