Sept 18, New Delhi: India's state-owned airport authority has agreed to develop Palaly airport in Northern Sri Lanka and it will be the authority's first project in the island nation.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) said in a release yesterday, that it has signed an agreement with Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Govt. of India for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for development of Palaly Airport in Sri Lanka.

The agreement was recently signed by Executive Director (Land Management & Business Development), Airports Authority of India Anil Gupta and Joint Secretary, IOR, MEA, Govt. of India, Sanjay Panda.

An AAI official said all the technical and design aspects would be covered in the DPR, which is expected to be completed in three months' time.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Gupta said that over a period of time, AAI has developed more than 60 Airports in Metro and Non Metro cities in India and now AAI wants to leverage its expertise to other countries on a bigger scale.