Sri Lanka is in talks with India for the purchase of two Dornier aircraft, Foreign Minister G L Peiris said, as the two countries attempt to boost defense ties. Peiris, who was in India this week, also held discussions with India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

“There is a proposal for the purchase of two Dornier aircraft,” Peiris said in an interview to The Indian Express. “There is no finality, nothing has been agreed upon. There are proposals and counter-proposals, and it is one of the matters under discussion.”

Concerned by the growing Chinese influence in the region, New Delhi has intensified its effort to boost defense ties with the Maldives and Sri Lanka, offering assistance in capacity building.
Colombo, however, played down New Delhi's concern vis-à-vis China, terming it "not logical."
In November 2020, New Delhi revived the trilateral NSA-level dialogue. In a meeting of security chiefs, held in August last year, three countries identified maritime safety and security, terrorism and radicalization, trafficking and organized crime, and cybersecurity as the “four pillars” of cooperation. [Read More]

During his visit this week, the Sri Lankan foreign minister confirmed New Delhi and Colombo are now transitioning their relationship from the “transactional” level to “strategic partnership” —almost a year after the bilateral ties came under strain following Colombo’s unilateral cancelation of the tripartite deal on the East Coast Terminal port of strategic important Colombo port in February 2021. [Read More]

A year on since the ECT fiasco, the ties between the two countries made remarkable improvement, with two countries signing important deals—some of them were pending for years—and New Delhi offering huge economic assistance, roughly $2.4 billion, to the crisis-gripped island nation.

Peiris called India “a true friend” who Sri Lankans can “rely on at all times”. He also acknowledged the progress the two countries made in reducing the trust deficit. [Read More]

(SAM)