2nd Indo-SL Defence Dialogue held in Colombo

Saturday, 11 October 2014 00:43 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A delegation led by Indian Defence Secretary Shri R.K. Mathur held discussions with his Sri Lankan counterpart Gotabaya Rajapaksa and high-ranking Sri Lankan defence officials at the ministry premises along the sidelines of the 2nd Annual Defence Dialogue held on Thursday. Indian Defence Secretary Mathur and the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Rajapaksa co-chaired the 2nd Defence Dialogue in the company of respective delegations, comprising Defence Ministry officials, External Affairs Ministry officials and high-ranked military officials from both countries.

During the session an array of ongoing defence cooperation initiatives were taken up for review and new avenues were identified with a view of strengthening bilateral defence ties between the two neighbouring nations. In addition, affairs concerning regional security and maritime security issues were also extensively discussed. The inaugural Annual Defence Dialogue was held in New Delhi, India on 31 January 2012. The Indian delegation comprised the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Y.K. Sinha, Indian Joint Secretary (PIC) of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Shri Ram Suhag Singh, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs Smt. Suchitra Durai, Deputy Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Arindam Bagchi, Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (FCI) RAdm. R.B. Pandit, Addl. Director General (International Cooperation) Maj. Gen. Rustam Patnaik and Defence Advisor of the Indian High Commission accompanied the Indian Defence Secretary.

The local delegation comprises Additional Secretary of the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry S. Hettiarchchi, Chief of National Intelligence Maj. Gen. (retd) K Hendawitharana, Asst. Secretary P. Hewarathna, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, Commander of the Army Lt. Gen. Daya Ratnayake, Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Jayantha Perera, Commander of the Air Force Air Marshal Kolitha Gunathilaka, Director General of Sri Lanka Coastguard Rear Admiral Sirimewan Ranasinghe, DG South Asian Division of Ministry of External Affairs D. Perera and the chiefs of staff of the respective Armed Forces.