Indian, Sri Lankan armies hold talks to boost bilateral defence ties

Pune [India]: Armies of India and Sri Lanka held discussion in Pune on Friday to boost bilateral defence ties between both the countries.

Taking to Twitter, the High Commission of India in Colombo, Sri Lanka said, "9th Army to Army Staff Talks between #IndianArmy and #SriLanka Army in #Pune !!! A five-member delegation from #SriLanka Army is attending the Talks. The focus is on further enhancement of bilateral defence cooperation."

Earlier on Tuesday, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister GL Peiris concluded his two-day official visit to India from February 6 to 8, where both sides discussed the fishermen's issue and India provided financial assistance of 2.4 billion USD to Sri Lanka.

This was the first visit of the Foreign Minister to New Delhi after assuming office as the Foreign Minister in August last year.

Jaishankar assured long-standing friendship between the two countries will always be a source of support to Sri Lanka.

The bilateral talks focussed on a wide range of matters of mutual interest, which included economic cooperation, power and energy cooperation, connectivity, people to people contact among others.

India and Sri Lanka have a legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious and linguistic interaction and the relationship between the two countries are more than 2500 years old, MEA said in a statement.

Trade and investment have grown between the two countries and there is cooperation in the fields of development, education, culture and defence. (ANI)