Rajnath Singh will visit Sri Lanka this week, becoming India’s first defense minister in nearly four decades.


NEW DELHI: Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will leave for Sri Lanka this week on a three-day official visit. This is the first visit by an Indian defense minister to the island nation since K.S. Pant, Defense Minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will leave for Sri Lanka this week on a three-day official visit. This is the first visit by an Indian defense minister to the island nation since K.S. Pant, Defense Minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet.

Singh will hold talks with the Sri Lankan leadership on a range of issues and will engage with the Indian diaspora in Colombo, the defense ministry said in a statement on Sunday. He will lead a delegation of senior officials from the ministries of defense and foreign affairs.

The ministry said the visit will further strengthen bilateral ties in mutually beneficial areas, including a “strong maritime and defense partnership.”

The two sides are expected to sign three new defense agreements during the visit, according to reports from New Delhi and Colombo. As it became known, we are talking about covering the supply of Indian anti-aircraft guns. The other two are expected to link the cadet corps of the two countries and enhance cooperation between the Sri Lanka Defense College and the Indian Defense Colleges. The India-Sri Lanka Defense Cooperation Memorandum signed last year is also up for review.

Singh’s main interlocutor is expected to be President Anura Kumara Disanayake, who has retained the defense portfolio since taking office in September 2024. Singh is also likely to meet Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya and hold talks at the military headquarters with Defense Minister Sampath Tuyakonta and the three service chiefs.

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