The Indian High Commission organised a seminar on defence cooperation on the theme “Identifying New Opportunities and Forging New Bonds” to promote Indian made defence equipment and explore avenues for collaboration in defence production at Taj Samudra on Wednesday.
State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon addressing the seminar.
State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon was the Chief Guest. Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha participated in the event with an Indian delegation led by Additional Secretary (Defence Production), Ministry of Defence, Government of India Shri Anurag Bajpai. 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.
Chief of Defence Staff, Commander of the Navy, Commander of the Air Force and other senior officers from the Security Forces, Police and Special Task Force graced the event, as also representatives of leading Sri Lankan business conglomerates.
High Commissioner Jha underlined the increasing diversification of India-Sri Lanka bilateral cooperation across domains, including in security and defence matters. He said that because of geography, the security of India and Sri Lanka is interlinked and intertwined. India’s defence exports today stand at nearly 2.6 billion US Dollars, a ten-fold increase over the past five years. The High Commissioner said that the seminar was another platform to explore ways of extending India’s increasing capabilities in the defence sector to Sri Lanka.
State Minister of Defence Tennakoon lauded the growth of the Indian defence industry, and said that the seminar would facilitate collaboration between two countries contributing to stable Indian Ocean Region. The State Minister said that the procurement of cost effective and tailor-made products from India in the past decade had helped protect Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He said that collaboration and joint research and development with Indian defence industries would also lead to country’s economic revival. The Minister also thanked the Government of India for standing by Sri Lanka in the times of crisis.
Indian Ministry of Defence Secterary Bajpai described Sri Lanka as India’s priority partner and reassured that India stands committed towards ensuring capacity and capability building of Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces as part of PM Modi’s vision of Security and And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR). He highlighted the common security challenges faced in the Indian Ocean Region and called for enhanced collaboration to create a safer environment. He shared a description of self-reliant India’s upward trajectory in establishing robust research and development and indigenous manufacturing ecosystems, while fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.
