India, Sri Lanka to hold joint naval exercise next year

India and Sri Lanka will hold a joint naval exercise next year as part of efforts to boost the bilateral defence cooperation in the post-LTTE era.

This was decided during the talks defence secretary Pradeep Kumar, who is in Colombo on a three-day visit, had with the Sri Lankan leadership, the president's office said today.

Kumar, who called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning, said during the meeting that "the prevailing good defence relationship between India and Sri Lanka should be further expanded and strengthened."

"Defence Dialogue between India and Sri Lanka should be further expanded to include army and navy," he said, according to a statement issued by the president's office.

Kumar had a bilateral meeting with his counterpart Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and external affairs minister GL Peiris yesterday.

At their talks yesterday, both countries decided to hold an annual defence dialogue, which was initially agreed during the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Rajapaksa in June.

It was also agreed that the two countries will have a joint naval exercise in the Sri Lankan waters in 2011, the President's office said.

The Indian Air Force has also been invited for Sri Lankan Air Force's Diamond Jubilee celebrations which fall next year.

Besides, Kumar informed Rajapaksa that India will offer 1400 training placements for the Sri Lankan security personnel.

President Rajapaksa welcomed the initiatives to strengthen defence cooperation between the two countries, the statement said.

The Indian defence secretary emphasised the importance of increasing service-to-service cooperation between the two countries.

During his visit, Kumar also paid homage to the slain Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) soldiers, who laid their lives in Sri Lanka during the fight with the LTTE in late 1980s.