India to provide $50 million defence assistance to Sri Lanka

New Delhi: – It is reported that India is considering an aid of USD 50 million to Sri Lanka for the defence sector. The decision to make the defence cooperation more comprehensive was taken during the virtual meeting between the Prime Ministers of both the countries. Against this background, the assistance of USD 50 million for the defence sector, being considered by India, becomes significant.

India is considering to provide defence equipment along with military training. India is also preparing to provide naval equipment to Sri Lanka. Before this, India has provided an assistance of USD 50 million to Bangladesh, also for the defence sector. Now it is reported that India will be assisting Sri Lanka.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, after becoming the President of Sri Lanka, first focused on the interests in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. He prioritised cooperation with India for this purpose. Sri Lanka is using its good offices, being the President of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), to make the marine policies more comprehensive. The Sri Lankan President had recently clarified that Sri Lanka would oppose to any country’s domination in the Indian Ocean region.

Meanwhile, after being rocked by terror attacks in 2019, Sri Lanka increased cooperation for counter-terrorism with India. This issue was at the top of the list during the bilateral virtual meeting on Saturday. Both countries have increased their cooperation in counter-terrorism since the last few months. Therefore, Sri Lanka could uproot the drug mafia channels who were providing funding to the terrorists. Both countries agreed on the exchange of sensitive and confidential information. Reminding that India had warned Sri Lanka, before the date of the actual terror attack, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa thanked the Indian Prime Minister during the virtual meeting.