Doval in Colombo for trilateral meet with Sri Lanka, Maldives

Colombo, November 27

National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval on Friday called on Sri Lanka Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and also met the country’s defence secretary to further advance “valuable” bilateral cooperation that contributes to peace and security in the region.

Doval arrived here on Friday for trilateral maritime dialogue among India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Sri Lanka will host the fourth national security advisor trilateral meeting on maritime security cooperation with India and the Maldives on Saturday. The meeting is to take place after six years — the last meeting was held in New Delhi in 2014.

“NSA Ajit Doval called on PM Mahinda Rajapaksa. NSA conveyed greetings from PM@narendramodi and recalled the contribution of the successful Virtual Bilateral Summit between the two leaders to progress in bilateral cooperation,” the Indian High Commission in Colombo said in a tweet.

Modi held wide-ranging talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa during the summit in September, covering the entire spectrum of bilateral ties and with a focus on further expanding cooperation in key areas.

Doval also met Sri Lanka Defence Secretary Major Gen (retd) Kamal Gunaratne and they agreed on several steps to further strengthen the “valuable” cooperation between the two countries.

“NSA Ajit Doval met Major General (retd) Kamal Gunaratne, Defence Secretary of SriLanka & discussed matters pertaining to the growing defence and security partnership between the two countries," the Indian High Commission in Colombo said in another tweet. — PTI