For the first time, India and Sri Lanka are set to sign an ambitious defence cooperation pact during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Colombo next week, in a significant move that comes nearly four decades after the IPKF’s intervention in the island nation.
The two sides are also likely to firm up a currency swap framework and seal several other agreements including one on debt restructuring following talks between Modi and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Disanayaka on April 5, people familiar with the matter said.
An arrangement to develop the Trincomalee oil firms jointly by India, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates is also being finalised, they said. In the second and final leg of his two-nation tour, Modi will arrive in Sri Lanka on the evening of April 4 on a three-day trip after concluding his visit to Thailand.
At a media briefing Friday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) on defence cooperation is expected to be inked and it is being signed for the first time.
If signed, the MoU on defence cooperation is set to signal a major upward trajectory in India-Sri Lanka defence leaving behind the bitter chapter relating to India pulling out the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) from the island nation around 35 years ago.
Finer details of the proposed defence pact are not immediately available but it is expected to enhance the two-way defence engagements against the backdrop of China’s increasing presence in the Indian Ocean Region.
The docking of Chinese missile and satellite tracking ship ‘Yuan Wang’ at Hambantota port in August 2022 had triggered a diplomatic row between India and Sri Lanka. Another Chinese warship docked at the Colombo port in August 2023.
“Sri Lanka is an integral part of our ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and the relationship, based on mutual trust and good will, has stood the test of time,” Misri said on the overall relations.
Modi’s visit will focus on promoting investments and deepening connectivity — physical connectivity, digital connectivity, energy connectivity and boost cooperation in various other domains, he said. Modi will be the first foreign leader to be hosted by Disanayaka in his capacity as the Sri Lankan president. Modi last travelled to Sri Lanka in 2019.
(PTI)
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