A Seminar on Defence Cooperation under the theme “Identifying New Opportunities and Forging New Bonds” to promote Indian Made Defence equipment and explore avenues for collaboration in defence production was held in Colombo on Wednesday (Apr 10).
Organized by the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka, the seminar was held with the aim of identifying it as another platform to explore ways of extending India’s increasing capabilities in the defence sector to Sri Lanka.
According to an Indian High Commission statement, Sri Lanka’s State Minister of Defence, Premitha Bandara Tennakoon was the Chief Guest at the event.
High Commissioner of India, Santosh Jha participated in the event with the Indian delegation led by Shri Anurag Bajpai, Additional Secretary (Defence Production), Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
The delegation comprised representatives from Indian Defence companies including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited, Zen Technologies, SSS Defence, Bharat Forge, Big Bang Boom Solutions, AWEL, AVNL, Mahindra Defence, Sager Defence and TATA Advances System Ltd.
From the Sri Lankan side, the Chief of Defence Staff, Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, Commander of Sri Lanka Air Force and other senior officers from the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, Police and Special Task Force graced the event, as also representatives of leading Sri Lankan business conglomerates.
At the event, High Commissioner Jha underlined the increasing diversification of India-Sri Lanka bilateral cooperation across domains, including in security and defence matters. He emphasised that because of geography, the security of India and Sri Lanka is interlinked and intertwined. India’s defence exports today stand at nearly 2.6 billion US Dollars, a ten-fold increase over the past five years. The High Commissioner stated that the seminar was another platform to explore ways of extending India’s increasing capabilities in the defence sector to Sri Lanka.
State Minister of Defence lauded the growth of the Indian defence industry and said that the seminar would facilitate collaboration between the two countries contributing to a stable Indian Ocean Region. The State Minister said the procurement of cost-effective and tailor-made products from India in the last decade had helped protect Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He emphasized that collaboration and joint R&D with Indian defence industries would also lead to the country’s economic revival. The State Minister further thanked the Government of India for standing by Sri Lanka in times of crisis.
Addressing the gathering, Additional Secretary (DP), Shri Anurag Bajpai described Sri Lanka as India’s priority partner and reassured that India stands committed to ensuring capacity & capability building of Sri Lanka Armed Forces as part of PM Modi’s vision of SAGAR (Security & And Growth for All in the Region). He highlighted the common security challenges faced in the Indian Ocean Region and called for enhanced collaboration to create a safer environment. He shared AatmaNirbhar Bharat’s, self-reliant India’s upward trajectory in establishing robust R&D and indigenous manufacturing ecosystems while fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.
A similar Defence Seminar cum Exhibition was previously conducted on June 07 2023 in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Armed forces have been successfully operating a range of Indian defence equipment like L-70 guns, Indra Radar, Offshore Patrol Vessels and Army training simulators.
More recently the Government of India has committed supply of Floating Dock, Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre and Dornier aircraft which would ensure capacity building of Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The Seminar is yet another reaffirmation of India’s commitment to building capacities for Sri Lanka, in line with the Neighbourhood First Policy. (Newswire)
