ECONOMYNEXT – The Sri Lanka Navy has an immense role in protecting the island nation, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has told a commissioning and passing-out parade at the Trincomalee Naval and Maritime Academy.
“We are an island nation, we have a 1,340 kilometer coastline to safeguard, a maritime area 8 times the size of the country, and an area 21 times the size that we are responsible for,” Dissanayake said.
“The Sri Lanka Navy has an immense task,” he told the forces and guests at the event.
He commended the Sri Lanka Navy for its vital role in combating the drug menace, which he described as one of the greatest challenges facing the country, and for its services during and after the recent Cyclone Ditwah disaster.
At the ceremony, 8 directly commissioned officers of Intake 2024/03, 33 officers of the 40th intake of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University and 25 officers of the 65th cadet intake of the Trincomalee Naval and Maritime Academy were commissioned.
Awards were presented to senior sailors who demonstrated outstanding performance during training, and ceremonial swords were presented to the newly commissioned officers by Dissanayake.
In July, Minister Nalinda Jayatissa told reporters that Sri Lanka had increased its Navy raids, monitoring, and arrests of Indian fishermen in the island nation’s waters in the Northern sea to prevent illegal encroachment.
Jayatissa also said Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers had approved a proposal for the country’s Navy to provide maritime security services in the Red Sea region.
Sri Lanka’s previous government began recruiting members for its naval force with advertisements calling for applications from cadet entry officers, direct entry artificers, artificers, sailors, and officers.
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Earlier this year Japan donated 500 million yen to provide drones for the investigation, surveillance, and monitoring activities of the island nation’s Navy under the Official Security Assistance Project. (Colombo/Dec15/2025)
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