Colombo, March 5 (PTI): Sri Lanka and the United States today entered into a 10-year agreement to provide reciprocal logistical support for their respective military forces.

The Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) was signed by Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse and US ambassador Robert Blake, the US embassy said.

"The agreement will allow the US and Sri Lanka to transfer and exchange logistics supplies, support, and re-fueling services, either in kind or at cost," a statement from the embassy said.

"Each nation's forces can support the other during contingencies, such as disaster relief or peacekeeping operations, which reduces the logistics requirement for each nation," the statement added.

ACSA became effective from today after a five-year delay since it was first mooted in March 2002.

The reason for the delay was not known, but changes in governments have taken place in the meantime.

The statement further adds that United States has similar agreements with 89 other countries.

Eventhough the US had outlawed Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels since October 1997, but Washington still urges Colombo to open peace talks with the LTTE.