Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is on a day’s visit to the island nation, jointly unveiled the virtual plaque to mark the formal commissioning of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Sri Lanka.
India Sri Lanka Commission Maritime Rescue Centre To Boost Security Ties
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is on a day’s visit to the island nation, jointly unveiled the virtual plaque to mark the formal commissioning of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Sri Lanka. Jaishankar was on his first foreign visit after beginning his second term as the foreign minister, with the choice of Sri Lanka as the destination signalling New Delhi’s continued focus on its “Neighbourhood First” policy.
The inauguration of the MRCC came six months after Sri Lanka declared a year-long moratorium on foreign research ships entering its waters amid India’s concerns over Chinese surveillance vessels docking in its neighbourhood. President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Jaishankar participated in a ceremony to hand over more than 150 houses built under two India-backed housing projects that are among the flagship initiatives of New Delhi’s development cooperation.
Over the past two years, Sri Lanka has benefited from a range of initiatives aimed at bolstering energy, financial and physical connectivity. The centre will be built under a $6 million grant from India as part of efforts to boost maritime security partnership in New Delhi’s southern neighbourhood.
The MRCC, established by state-run Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), will serve as the nerve centre for search and rescue operations at the sea. A memorandum of understanding for the centre was signed in March 2022, and Sri Lankan Navy teams have been trained by BEL in Bengaluru and Colombo to operate the MRCC.
Wickremesinghe and Jaishankar jointly unveiled a digital plaque to hand over 106 houses built under the Indian Housing Project in the three districts of Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Matale. These houses are part of the third phase of the project to build a total of 4,000 houses, and more than 3,700 houses have already been handed over to beneficiaries.
Jaishankar held a separate meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabry, said on X that their discussions covered prospects in capacity building and shared engagement. They also discussed greater multilateral cooperation, especially in BIMSTEC, IORA and the UN.
