Article Posted on : - Mar 16, 2021

COLOMBO (PTI):  India's envoy in Sri Lanka has underlined the importance of close cooperation between the navies of the two countries as an essential part of the overall bilateral engagement, as he handed over training aids worth 22 million LKR (about Rs 81,00,000) to the island nation's Navy for capacity building.

High Commissioner Gopal Baglay, during a visit to the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka, formally handed over the training aids to the Commander Eastern Naval Area of the Sri Lanka Navy at a ceremony held on Sunday at the prestigious Naval and Maritime Academy (NMA) Trincomalee.

Pursuing the commitment of the Indian Navy in assisting the regional navies in capacity building, during his visit in December 2019, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh had committed to providing a number of training items to the Sri Lankan Navy, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said in a statement.

With a focus on supporting specialisation courses being conducted at NMA, Sri Lanka Navy model of indigenously developed Varunastra heavy-weight torpedo, working model of Light Weight Torpedo, Underwater Telephone, Gas Turbine cut Model, a model of HMS Trincomalee and Bathythermograph were delivered in Sri Lanka in 2020 and were operationalised with joint efforts of Indian Navy, Sri Lankan Navy and the OEMs from India.

While formally handing over the training aids, the High Commissioner reiterated the importance of close cooperation between the two navies as an essential part of the overall bilateral engagement. He also handed over Kindle e-book readers and books to the library of the Naval and Maritime Academy.

The Indian Navy and the Sri Lankan Navy have always maintained a functional relationship and several training facilities of the Indian Navy are availed by the Sri Lankan Navy, the High Commission said.