India, Sri Lankan Ink’s main defense treaty after negotiations between PM Modi and President Dissanayake | India News
India and Sri Lanka signed an ambitious defense cooperation agreement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time on Saturday, outlining a broader roadmap for deeper bilateral cooperation and asserting that the security of the two countries is interconnected and dependent on each other.
After extensive negotiations between PM Modi and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the two sides signed one of seven key agreements.
The National Defense Convention is seen as a major move to strengthen strategic ties, nearly forty years after Indian peace forces’ intervention in island countries.
“We believe that our security interests are similar. The security of the two countries is interconnected and dependent on each other,” Modi said in his media statement.
“I thank President Dissanayake for his sensitivity to Indian interests. We welcome the important agreements reached on defense cooperation,” he said.
Dissanayake said in his speech that he assured PM Modi that Sri Lanka would not allow the use of its territory in any way that is to India’s security interests.
He said he also conveyed to Modi that India’s aid to Sri Lanka is cherished very much when it is needed and continues to unite.
Another important agreement between the two parties is to use the trincomalee as an energy hub.
Presidents PM Modi and Dissanayake actually unveiled the Sampur solar project as well.
“Sampur solar power plant will contribute to the energy security of Sri Lanka. All people in Sri Lanka will benefit from the signed agreement to build multi-product pipelines and develop trincomalee as an energy hub,” Modi said.
He said the connectivity agreement between grids between the two countries would provide Sri Lanka with the option of exporting electricity.
Modi said Sri Lanka has a “special place” in the first policy and vision of ‘Mahasagar’ near India.
“Over the past four months, we have made great progress in our cooperation since President Disnayak’s visit to India,” he said.
Modi-Dissanayake’s talks came on the second day of the Prime Minister’s arrival in the Sri Lanka capital during his trip to Bangkok, where he attended the summit of Bimstec (Bangla Bay Multi-Section Technology and Economic Cooperation Program).
Before the talks, Modi was welcomed by a ceremony at the historic Independence Square in the center of the Sri Lanka capital, the first such honor to foreign leaders.
President Dissanayake received the Prime Minister in the square – the location of the National Day celebrations and named it after the Independence Memorial to commemorate the independence of the island nation far from British rule in 1948.
