Neighbours: India, Sri Lanka ink pacts for defense, energy cooperation
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: For the first time, India and Sri Lanka signed an ambitious defence cooperation pact on Saturday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlining a broader roadmap for deeper bilateral cooperation. The pact asserts that the security of the two neighbours is interlinked and interdependent.
According to a media report, the defense pact is among seven key agreements signed by the two sides following wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Modi and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The defence pact, being seen as a major move to bolster strategic ties, came nearly four decades after the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) intervened in the island nation at the time of Tamil separatist militancy in Northern Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, President Dissanayake also conferred the Mithra Vibhushana Award, the highest civilian honour in SrinLanka, on PM Modi, in recognition of his role in boosting bilateral ties.
“We believe that our security interests are similar. The security of both countries is interlinked and dependent on each other,” PM Modi said in a media statement.
“I am grateful to President Dissanayake for his sensitivity towards India’s interests. We welcome the important agreements concluded in defence cooperation,” he said.
President Dissanayake said he assured PM Modi that Sri Lanka will not allow its territory to be used in any manner inimical to India’s security interests. He also conveyed to Modi that India’s assistance to Sri Lanka in times of need and continuing solidarity are deeply cherished.
Another important bilateral agreement was on developing Trincomalee as an energy hub.
The two leaders also virtually inaugurated the Sampur solar power project.
“The Sampur Solar Power Plant will help in Sri Lanka’s energy security. All the people of Sri Lanka will benefit from the agreements signed for building a multi-product pipeline and developing Trincomalee as an energy hub,” PM Modi said.
The grid inter-connectivity agreement between the two countries will open up options for Sri Lanka to export electricity, he said.
PM Modi said Sri Lanka has a “special place” in India’s Neighbourhood First policy and Vision ‘MAHASAGAR.’
“In the last four months, since President Dissanayake’s visit to India, our cooperation has progressed significantly,” he said.
The Modi-Dissanayake talks were held a day after the PM arrived in the Sri Lankan capital after concluding his trip to Bangkok where he attended the Sixth Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).
Ahead of the talks, PM Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the historic Independence Square in the heart of the Sri Lankan capital, in the first such honour given to a foreign leader.
President Dissanayake received the PM at the Square — the venue for national day celebrations and takes its name from the Independence Memorial Hall built to commemorate the island nation’s independence from British rule in 1948.
