‘80 percent SL navy men received training in India’

20 April 2013 06:34 pm Views - 3209

Navy Commander Jayanath Colombage said that nearly 80 per cent of the Sri Lankan Navy personnel received some of their training in India, the Hindu reported.
Recalling his own training stints in places such as Kerala and the Nilgiris, he said: “Irrespective of the other differences that may exist, navy cadets of both countries speak the same language.”
He made this remark, at a reception hosted by the Indian High Commission in Colombo on Friday on board an Indian training ship at the Colombo Harbour.
On Saturday, as many as 250 trainees with the Sri Lankan Navy were on board the Indian ships for ‘sea experience’, in navy parlance. While two vessels are scheduled to leave late Saturday, the third would return to India on Sunday.
Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ashok K. Kantha said that India, in addition to having a broad-based engagement with Sri Lanka, shared very strong ties that were both explicit and subtle.
Part of a training interaction initiative, the experience sought to expose trainees to the rigours of the sea, officials said