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Indian Navy submarine ‘Vagir’ arrives in Colombo (Pics)
Indian Naval Submarine ‘Vagir’, which is the latest indigenous Kalvari-class submarine of the Indian Navy, has arrived in Sri Lanka.
The submarine will undertake an operational visit at Colombo from 19-22 Jun 2023 to commemorate the 9th edition of International Day of Yoga (IDY) under the theme of ‘Global Ocean Ring’.
The Commanding Officer of the Indian Naval submarine, Commander Divakar. S will call on Commander Western Naval Area, Rear Admiral Suresh De Silva. Further, during the submarine’s visit the vessel would be open for visitors and school children.
The High Commission of India in coordination with Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre is scheduled to organize a grand event at Colombo Port to celebrate IDY on 21 June 2023 with participation of senior defence hierarchy and personnel from Indian and Sri Lanka Navies.
During their stay in the country, the crew of the submarine is also scheduled to take part in several activities organised by the Sri Lanka Navy, with a view to promoting cooperation between both navies. In addition, they will visit some of the tourist attractions in the country.
The Indian Navy is participating in the 9th edition of IDY with the unique initiative of performing Yoga on selected ports across the world forming a ‘Global Ocean Ring’. Connecting people the world over in a common pursuit of wellness, IDY 2023 resonates with the theme of India’s ongoing presidency of the G20, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam or ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’.
Earlier this year, Indian Naval Ships Delhi, Sukanya, Kiltan and Savitri had earlier visited Colombo and Trincomalee, during which Yoga sessions were organised with Sri Lanka Navy.
(Pics : SL Navy)
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First capacity-building program under NCGG – SLIDA MoU concludes successfully
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the National Centre for Good Governance of India (NCGG) and Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA) was signed during the State Visit of President of Sri Lanka, H.E. Anura Kumara Disanayaka to India in December 2024 for training and capacity building of 1500 Sri Lankan civil service officers over a period of five years.
The first program under the MoU was successfully held at NCGG from 21 April to 02 May 2025, and was attended by 41 officers. Based on the request of the Government of Sri Lanka, the theme of the program was ‘digitization in governance’. The program featured a series of sessions focused on key areas such as digital service delivery, digital public infrastructure, financial inclusion through digital payments, and innovations in public grievance redressal systems. Senior officials and domain experts delivered presentations on flagship Indian initiatives in the digital domain, including Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, e-Office, GeM, Aadhaar, PM Gati Shakti, among others.
At an interaction session with participants in the inaugural program organized on 08 May 2025 at SLIDA, the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, H.E. Santosh Jha underscored that capacity building is an important pillar of the development cooperation between the two countries, with Sri Lanka being among the largest recipients of scholarships and capacity building initiatives offered by India. He highlighted that, demonstrating India’s continued commitment to enhancing capacity-building opportunities for Sri Lankans, Prime Minister of India had announced additional training avenues to 700 Sri Lankan citizens annually during his recent State visit. In that context, the High Commissioner said that the participants in the first NCGG-SLIDA programme also represented the first set of Sri Lankan nationals to receive training as part of the significantly enhanced capacity-building endeavour of India that will now benefit 1000 Sri Lankans annually.
The interaction session was also attended by Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Mr S. Aloka Bandara; Director General of SLIDA, Mr A.V. Janadara; senior officials and faculty members of SLIDA; among others.
In view of the highly positive feedback from the participants in the inaugural NCGG-SLIDA program, based on request from SLIDA, a second program on the same theme under the MoU is now being planned for another batch of around 40 officers for early June 2025.
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First capacity-building program under NCGG – SLIDA MoU concludes successfully
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