Sri Lanka is engaged with India to set up a small arms manufacturing unit in the country in the wider ambit of defence cooperation between the two nations, State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon said on Wednesday. “We are in discussions with India to set up a small arms manufacturing unit,” Tennakoon said responding to a press query here.

“We are in touch with our Indian counterparts, there is so much we can take and learn from India,” he added.

Tennakoon said “those discussions are ongoing – a joint venture in the military industry”.

This follows the second seminar of India-Sri Lanka Defence Cooperation held here early April.

The Indian envoy in Colombo, Santosh Jha, in his address said the Indian defence industry today rolls out state-of-the-art systems, advanced technologies and world class equipments.

“To name a few, this ranges from fighter aircrafts and helicopters to naval vessels, from electronic warfare systems to cyber security solutions and from small arms to large caliber precision long range artillery systems,” he added. Jha said that India would be “willing to make these capabilities available to our friendly partner countries like Sri Lanka”.