Indian Naval Commander in Chief in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 December 2005, 11:32 GMT]
Vice Admiral Sureesh Mehta, Commander in Chief of the Indian Navys Eastern Naval Command is on a visit to Sri Lanka between 12 Dec to 16 Dec 05, a press release by the Indian Embassy in Colombo said Wednesday. Vice Admiral Mehta met with Sri Lankan Government President and Commanders of Security forces, the release added.

Full text of the press release follows:

Vice Admiral Sureesh Mehta, Commander in Chief of the Indian Navys Eastern Naval Command is visiting Sri Lanka from 12 Dec to 16 Dec 05. Over the last two days, Admiral Mehta has met with the Indian High Commissioner, Service Commanders of the Sri Lankan armed forces Vice Admiral W.K.J Karannagoda, Air Marshal G.D Perera, Lt Gen G.S.C Fonseka, Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral D.W.K Sandagiri, Defence Secretary Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Prime Minister/Deputy Minister of Defence Mr Ratnasiri Wickramanayake. These friendly discussions focused on ongoing bilateral cooperation.

As part of the goodwill visit, the Indian Naval Ships INS Sukanya and Kirpan,which are also in Colombo at this time, played host to the Defence Secretary, Government of Sri Lanka, the Indian High Commissioner, Sri Lankan Service Commanders and Senior Officals for a day at Sea on 14 Dec 05. INS Sukanya sailed with the distinguished visitors off Colombo for a sea experience and retuned by afternoon. Search and rescue and maritime assistance exercises were demonstrated to the visitors. The Indian Navy Hosts distinguished visitors for a day at sea when their ships sail overseas on goodwill visits.

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