• India and Sri Lanka have a great legacy of intellectual, cultural, and  religious interaction and relationship of more than 2,500 years
• India offers fellowships like India S and T fellowship, e-ITEC

India and Sri Lanka extended the existing science and technology cooperation for three more years, with focus on new areas like waste-water technologies, biotech, sustainable agriculture, aerospace engineering, robotics, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence, as well as industrial collaborations at the India-Sri Lanka 5th Joint Committee on S and T Cooperation held on January 20, 2022, a statement from the Indian High Commission said.  

 “India and Sri Lanka have a great legacy of intellectual, cultural, and religious interaction and relationship of more than 2,500 years. Trade and investment and cooperation in education and other sectors have gone up in recent times, and in this line, cooperation in S and T becomes very critical,” said Mr. S. K. Varshney, Advisor and Head, International Cooperation, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology, India, who led the delegation from the country and was the Indian co-chair.  

 “This platform will provide an opportunity for discussing various other facets which are possible for collaboration in the domain of S and T. There are lots of opportunities available for bilateral cooperation. India offers fellowships like India S and T fellowship, e-ITEC,”  he added.  Mrs. Deepa Liyanage, Secretary, State Ministry of Skills Development, Vocational Education, Research & Innovations, Sri Lanka, the co-chair from Sri Lanka, reiterated the well-established bilateral relationship between both the countries.    Mr. Vinod K. Jacob, Deputy High Commissioner from India in Sri Lanka, highlighted that as part of India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy which guides the country’s cooperation with Sri Lanka. This meeting would help build on existing collaborative work and help these reach greater heights. He further mentioned that under the e-ITEC programme, since April 2020, 550 Sri-Lankan nationals have benefited from training in various Indian institutions in areas like biotech, medical research, renewable energy, and so on.