Sri Lanka maintains defence ties with several countries

COLOMBO: The Defence Ministry said yesterday certain malicious reports in the media has sought to create mischief relating to the Sri Lankan Government's defence relations with its friendly countries which is vital to the country's national security.

A senior Defence Ministry official told the Daily News that the Government maintains good defence relations with India, China, Pakistan, UK, US, Ukraine, Israel and several other countries in the interest of the country's national security and for the purchase of military equipment.

"The Government maintains defence relations with all these countries while preserving our goodwill with other nations. We never intend to favour any country when purchasing military equipment," the official said.

"Our only concern when purchasing military equipment is to give top priority to our requirements in the interest of national security. And we deal with the countries with which we maintain good and healthy defence relations be it India, China or Pakistan.

"There are no favourites in our selections," the official added.