Army Chief Gen Naravane leaves for Sri Lanka on four-day visit

Chief of Army Staff Gen MM Naravane on Tuesday left for Sri Lanka on a four-day visit to explore ways to further expand bilateral military cooperation and discuss issues relating to regional security challenges.

Gen Naravane's visit comes days after the foreign secretary travelled to the island nation and held extensive talks with the top leaders of the country to boost cooperation in a range of areas.

"General MM Naravane #COAS proceeded on a four day visit to #SriLanka. #COAS will be meeting the apex civilian and military leadership of #SriLanka and discuss avenues for further enhancing India-Sri Lanka defence cooperation," the Army tweeted.

Defence and security ties between India and Sri Lanka have been on an upswing.

Currently, the armies of the two countries are carrying out a mega military exercise with a focus on enhancing counter-terror cooperation.

The eighth edition of the 'Mitra Shakti' exercise began on October 4 at Combat Training School in Sri Lanka's Ampara and it will conclude on October 15.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval paid a two-day visit to Colombo in November last year to attend a trilateral maritime security cooperation dialogue among India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.