The President of the island nation of Sri Lanka, Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived in New Delhi on Thursday. He is on a two-day visit to India to conduct bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for strengthening economic ties. On Friday, both leaders engaged in an extensive discussion regarding the possibilities of establishing a petroleum line and land bridge connectivity projects between the two nations. The talks took place in Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
India-Sri Lanka Relationship
While addressing Sri Lankan President’s visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised the importance of Sri Lanka in India’s neighborhood first policy. He stated that both countries have similar economic and social interests which makes it important for them to work together in unison. Further, he said that India stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Sri Lanka in a time of need.Â
Last year Sri Lanka went through a severe economic crisis which left the country struggling to import even essential commodities such as fuel, food and medicines. In such hardships, New Delhi extended its support by providing approximately USD 4 billion as rapid financial assistance. Â
While addressing the media, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Sri Lanka also has an important place in both India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and ‘SAGAR’ vision. Today we shared our views on bilateral, regional and international issues. We believe that the security interests and development of India and Sri Lanka are intertwined.” PM Modi also congratulated President Wickremesinghe for completing one year in office.
Upcoming Developments in India Sri-Lanka Ties
The visit of President Wickremesinghe is especially important because this is the first visit of a Sri Lankan Leader to New Delhi since the economic crisis in Colombo. Ensuring optimum benefits of the visit, the two countries have formulated a vision document for enhancing economic partnerships and cooperation in tourism, power, connectivity, trade and higher education.
According to ANI, Wickremesinghe said, “We agreed that the economic and technology cooperation agreement between India-Sri Lanka is critical to enhancing the bilateral trade and investment in new and priority areas.”
The Indian Prime Minister has affirmed the formulation of an agreement for launching the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in Sri Lanka. This will result in enhanced fintech connectivity between New Delhi and Colombo. France, UAE and Singapore have been the partners of India on fintech solutions before Sri Lanka.
The vision is also to strengthen air and maritime connectivity. Moreover, PM Modi has informed about the efforts to increase air connectivity and both countries have decided to start a ferry from Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Kankesanturai in Sri Lanka. He also urged the Sri Lankan government to address the issues of the Tamil community. The Tamil community in Sri Lanka has been continuously discriminated against and is being subjected to violence.
There have been many problems between New Delhi and Colombo related to the fisherman community. Indian fishermen are repeatedly arrested by Sri Lankan forces. PM Modi spoke about the fisherman issue and said that the matter should be handled with a humanitarian approach.Â
Ahead of the talks between the two top leaders, President Wickremesinghe met National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval to discuss areas of security cooperation between the two nations. On Thursday evening, he talked about bilateral issues with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. This visit of the Sri Lankan president will surely strengthen the India-Sri Lanka friendship. It also indicates that New Delhi is actively helping Colombo to recover from the impact of last year’s economic crisis.
