India to offer $50-million Line of Credit to Sri Lanka in defence sector

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN
Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, September 28:

India is working on a plan to offer to Sri Lanka $50-million Line of Credit (LoC) in the defence sector, according to a media report here.

At their virtual summit last Saturday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa decided to expand defence and security partnership to stabilize the Indian Ocean Region and the Bay of Bengal in the backdrop of China’s growing ambitions in these zones.

Apart from expanding the training programme of Sri Lankan military in this country’s defence establishments, India has plans to offer defence hardware to the island-nation under the LoC, The Economic Times reported today.

There are also plans to expand supplies for the Sri Lankan Navy, hardware and equipment to other branches of the Sri Lankan military that they need.

The statement issued after the Modi-Mahinda summit said the two PMs decided “to strengthen cooperation between the armed forces of the two sides, including through mutual exchange of personnel visits, maritime security cooperation and support to Sri Lanka in the spheres of defence and security,”