NEW DELHI: Defence minister Rajnath Singh will undertake an official visit to Sri Lanka from Tuesday for three days. His visit to the island nation will strengthen the traditionally strong and friendly bilateral relations in mutually beneficial areas, including a strong maritime and defence partnership.This will be the first visit of an Indian defence minister to the island nation in 38 years for defence-level talks. The last time an Indian defence minister visited Sri Lanka for defence talks was K C Pant, who travelled to the island nation in 1988 while serving in Rajiv Gandhi’s Cabinet. Pranab Mukherjee did go to Sri Lanka as defence minister in Aug 2005 but he went only to attend the state funeral of Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was assassinated.During his visit, Rajnath will hold consultations with the leadership of Sri Lanka on a range of issues and interact with the Indian diaspora in Colombo, a defence ministry’s release said on Sunday. He will lead a high-level delegation comprising senior officials from the defence ministry and the ministry of external affairs.India and Sri Lanka share deep civilisational ties and a multifaceted partnership, anchored by regional security, defence, economic and trade cooperation and strong people-to-people ties.The bilateral relationship received further impetus when India assisted Sri Lanka during the economic crisis and provided assistance, as one of the first responders, in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka in 2025. It underscored India’s continued commitment and emphasis on ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and PM Narendra Modi’s vision of MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions).