By: Staff Writer
April 15, Colombo (LNW): India said it is and will remain Colombo’s most reliable friend and dependable partner as it underlined that New Delhi was willing to offer modern defence equipment to friendly partner countries like Sri Lanka.
Addressing the Second India-Sri Lanka Defence Seminar here, India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Santosh Jha, said that like in other areas, India and Sri Lanka were cooperating closely on security and defence matters.
“Because of our geography, our security is interlinked and intertwined. And when we speak of security, we must remember that it has acquired a wider meaning than we have traditionally associated with it,” Jha said.
The various advanced platforms and equipment developed indigenously in India can also become viable, affordable and modern solutions for the Sri Lankan military, he said
Indian arm manufacturing firms displayed the Delhi’s capability in arm manufacturing to Sri Lankan military at a seminar on Wednesday which the island nation expects to open the door for future joint collaboration in manufacturing and services.
Indian High Commission in Colombo High Commission organised the seminar titled “Identifying New Opportunities and Forging New Bonds” to promote Indian Made Defence equipment and explore avenues for collaboration in defence production.
India’s privately owned defence companies demonstrated the capability they have developed in manufacturing arms and other products including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), latest drones, and latest earth movers used in war zones.
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.
They presented their manufacturing capabilities and the advantages of using them in a modern war.
From the Sri Lankan side, Chief of Defence Staff, Commander of Sri Lanka Navy, Commander of Sri Lanka Air Force and other senior officers from Sri Lankan Armed Forces, Police and Special Task Force attended the event along with representatives of leading Sri Lankan business conglomerates.
Santosh Jha, the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka 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,” Indian High Commission of Sri Lanka said in a statement. “India’s defence exports today stand at nearly 2.6 billion US Dollars, a ten-fold increase over the past five years. 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.”
