Sri Lanka and India concluded a new round of talks in New Delhi yesterday with both sides looking at normalizing defence ties once again with the end of the war in Sri Lanka, the Hindu newspaper reported.

At the talks yesterday, India was represented by National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar, while the Sri Lankan side included Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, and Senior Advisor to the President Basil Rajapaksa, who is also in charge of rehabilitation efforts in the war-affected parts of Sri Lanka.

MP Basil Rajapaksa had talks in India since Wednesday and was later joined by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga for the remainder of the discussions yesterday.

Earlier Mr. Weeratunga had told Daily Mirror online that only MP Basil Rajapaksa will be taking part in the talks in India but on Wednesday night he together with Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa suddenly left for Delhi.

According to the Hindu defence was one of the several issues at the table during the talks in New Delhi yesterday. Both sides also discussed the problems facing fishermen, with India pointing out that killings were unacceptable and that a way had to be found to eliminate this altogether. It was agreed to open channels of communication between fishermen from both countries to understand issues that have sparked violence on the high seas. (Daily Mirror online)