TOKYO - Japan will provide the Sri Lanka Navy with surveillance boats worth 1 billion yen ($6.3 million) under its security aid framework designed to support like-minded partners, the Japanese government said Tuesday.
The two governments signed an agreement in Colombo for the provision of rigid-hulled inflatable boats under Japan's Official Security Assistance program, launched in 2023, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
The ministry described Sri Lanka as a "point of strategic importance on sea lanes" in the Indian Ocean and said the equipment is expected to enhance the navy's "capabilities for monitoring and surveillance, law enforcement, as well as search and rescue and disaster response."
In September last year, the two countries also agreed on the provision of surveillance drones worth 500 million yen to the Sri Lanka Navy under the same program, as China expands its economic and military influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
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