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National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday referred to as on Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and in addition met with the nation’s defence secretary to additional advance the “valuable” bilateral cooperation which contributes to peace and safety within the area. Doval arrived right here on Friday for trilateral maritime dialogue amongst India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Sri Lanka will host the fourth nationwide safety advisor trilateral assembly on maritime safety cooperation with India and Maldives on Friday and Saturday. The assembly is to happen after six years – the final assembly was held in New Delhi in 2014. “NSA Ajit Doval called on PM Mahinda Rajapaksa. NSA conveyed greetings from PM@narendramodi and recalled the contribution of the successful Virtual Bilateral Summit between the two leaders to progress in bilateral cooperation,” the Indian High Commission in Colombo mentioned in a tweet.
Modi held wide-ranging talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa through the summit in September, masking the whole spectrum of bilateral ties and with a spotlight on additional increasing cooperation in key areas. “An opportunity has come to begin a new chapter in India-Sri Lanka ties after your party’s electoral victory. People from both the countries are looking at us with new hope and expectations,” Modi had mentioned.
Doval additionally met Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Major Gen (Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne they usually agreed on a number of steps to additional strengthen the “valuable” cooperation between the 2 international locations which additionally contributes to peace and safety within the area. “NSA Ajit Doval met Major Gen(Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne, Defence Secretary of SriLanka & discussed matters pertaining to the growing defence and security partnership between the two countries,” the Indian High Commission in Colombo mentioned in one other tweet.
Doval was accorded a heat welcome by Army Commander Lt Gen Silva Shavendra on his arrival in Colombo. Doval and Maldivian defence minister Maria Didi are anticipated to steer their respective delegations to the trilateral assembly.
There will probably be observers from Bangladesh, Mauritius and Seychelles on the assembly, the Sri Lankan navy mentioned. The high-level engagement that covers a variety of topics is designed to provoke collective motion on maritime safety together with maritime area consciousness, authorized regimes, practice in search and rescue, maritime air pollution response, data sharing, curbing piracy medicine arms and contraband trafficking within the Indian Ocean area.
On Thursday, the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi mentioned the NSA-level trilateral assembly has served as an efficient platform for cooperation amongst Indian Ocean international locations. “The meeting will provide an opportunity for discussion on issues pertaining to cooperation in maritime security in the Indian Ocean region,” the MEA mentioned in an announcement.
This can be Doval’s second official go to to Sri Lanka this 12 months. In January, Doval visited the island nation and mentioned a spread of bilateral points, together with strengthening cooperation in defence, intelligence sharing and maritime safety with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
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