Colombo, April 6 -- A defence cooperation agreement finalised by India and Sri Lanka on Saturday, the first pact of its kind, will make existing initiatives more structured and lead to more joint exercises and potential defence industry collaboration, foreign secretary Vikram Misri said.
The MoU on defence cooperation marks the first refresh of ties in this important sector since India's troubled intervention in Sri Lanka's civil war in the late 1980s, and comes at a time when India has been concerned about China's increasing presence in its strategic backyard. The agreement triggered protests by hardline political elements in Sri Lanka, such as the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), which described it as a "betrayal" of the island nation's ...