The State government of Tamil Nadu, in a letter to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, has sought clearance for the talks, The Hindu reported.

S. Vijayakumar, Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Secretary, has said the talks were to reiterate the rights of the fishermen in Palk Bay irrespective of any artificially drawn boundaries.The talks would also suggest ways for fishing in the traditional waters of Palk Bay on convenient and agreeable terms.

The first meeting between the representatives of the fishermen's associations in Sri Lanka and India was held onn January 20, 2014 in Chennai and the second meeting was on May 12, 2014 in Colombo. The meetings were held to iron out a solution among themselves to share the resources in the seas between the two countries. However, the second round of discussions ended without reaching any agreement.