Chief of Staff of the Indian Navy, Admiral Arun Prakash, has said that he is seeking "new areas of cooperation" with the Sri Lankan Navy and the Sri Lankan Armed Forces to promote good neighbourly relations between India and Sri Lanka.
On a visit to Colombo and the naval base of Trincomalee, Admiral Prakash said that the Indian Navy would give "full cooperation" to the Sri Lankan Navy and the Armed Forces.
He was interacting with newspersons on Monday at the Ministry of Defense, where he met the Deputy Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake.
Admiral Prakash met President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is also the Minister of Defense. He is to fly to Trincomalee on Tuesday, the first by any Indian chief of naval staff to the naval base on the island's eastern coast.
Trincomalee is a strategic place for India as it has the 99 oil tanks, which were given over to the Indian Oil Corporation to be used jointly with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. The giant World War II vintage tanks are to be refurbished and used for storage of kerosene.
But Trincomalee is under threat from the LTTE, which has proclaimed it as the putative capital of the Tamil Eelam. Its harbour is located very close to the LTTE's artillery and mortar gun positions.
(The Hindustan Times)
(http://www.island.lk/2004/09/15/news4.html)
