India hands over training aids worth Rs 81 lakh to Lankan Navy for capacity building

New Delhi, Mar 18: With an aim to provide assistance to the neighboring country, India's envoy in Sri Lanka handed over training aids worth 22 million LKR (about Rs 81,00,000) to the island nation's Navy for capacity building. This is to underline the importance of close cooperation between the navies of the two countries as an essential part of the overall bilateral engagement.

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

With a focus on supporting specialization 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 operationalized 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.