US, Sri Lanka hold first operational level bilateral defence dialogue

The first Operational Level Bilateral Defence Dialogue between the armed forces of the United States and Sri Lanka was held on 8 and 9 August. Sri Lanka Navy hosted the event at Naval Headquarters premises.

This was the first ever dialogue between the two armed forces at operational level on bilateral defence cooperation. The objective of the dialogue was to develop concrete engagement calendars for next three years from 2016, aiming at bilateral training and exercises between members of the armed forces of United States and Sri Lanka.

The US delegation consisted of representatives from different formations of US Pacific Command whilst the representatives from tri-services, Ministry of Defense and Office of the Chief of Defence Staff comprised the Sri Lankan delegation.