New Delhi, 23 Feb: India and Sri Lanka on Thursday agreed to increase intensity of bilateral military exercises and vowed to avail maximum benefits from each other’s experience and capacities, a move that came amid China’s attempts to expand its influence in the Indian Ocean region.
\nThe two sides reviewed their defence and security cooperation at the seventh India-Sri Lanka annual defence dialogue that took place in Delhi.
\n“During the meeting, the ongoing defence cooperation activities between the two countries were reviewed, with both sides agreeing to increase the complexity of bilateral exercises,” the defence ministry said.
\n“In the context of training, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to avail maximum benefits from each other’s experience and capacities,” it said in a statement. The dialogue was co-chaired by Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and his Sri Lankan counterpart General Kamal Gunaratne.
\nThe ministry said the armed forces of both countries continue to seek bilateral cooperation in multiple fields and increased engagements are a positive sign for the future of bilateral relations.
\nIt said Aramane thanked General Gunaratne and his delegation for a “fruitful dialogue” and stated that India looks forward to continued engagement based on the common understanding reached at the dialogue.
\nThe Indian delegation also included officials from headquarters of the Integrated Defence Staff, service headquarters and the Ministry of External Affairs.
\nThe Sri Lankan delegation included Commander of Sri Lankan Air Force Air Marshal SK Pathirana amongst other senior dignitaries.
\nThe annual defence dialogue is the highest institutionalised interactive mechanism between both the countries.
\n“Its significance in chartering the future course of the relations between the armed forces of India and Sri Lanka was highlighted by the importance given to the talks by both sides,” the ministry said.
\nThe defence ties between India and Sri Lanka have witnessed steady expansion.
\nIn August last, India handed the island nation a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft.
\nThe aircraft was given to Sri Lanka from the inventory of the Indian Navy to help the country meet its immediate security requirement.
\nThe Indian Navy has been supporting various capacity building measures of the Sri Lankan Navy including providing indigenously constructed Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs). (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi, 23 Feb: India and Sri Lanka on Thursday agreed to increase intensity of bilateral military exercises and vowed to avail maximum benefits from each other’s experience and capacities, a move that came amid China’s attempts to expand its influence in the Indian Ocean region. The two sides reviewed their defence and security cooperation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-211568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}