Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe “reviewed the entire spectrum of bilateral relations,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Friday.
Kwatra said the two leaders acknowledged that the partnership and cooperation have been a source of great strength in overcoming the recent difficulties and challenges in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan President is on a two-day visit to India from Thursday at the invitation of PM Modi.
While addressing a special press briefing on Wickremesinghe’s visit to India, Kwatra said, “The Honourable Prime Minister and President of Sri Lanka during their discussions reviewed the entire spectrum of our bilateral relations and both acknowledged that the partnership and our cooperation has been a source of great strength in overcoming the recent difficulties and challenges in Sri Lanka.”
“The two leaders also outlined a common vision of theirs to further develop the bilateral relationship in coming years centred around enhanced, extended and deepened connectivity and deeper economic partnership. The essence of specifics of what the vision of the connectivity-related future partnership is, captured and reflected in a comprehensive joint vision document which is centered on connectivity that both the leaders have agreed upon and it covers various dimensions of connectivity– maritime air connectivity, energy connectivity, power, trade and economic connectivity, financial connectivity, digital connectivity and also resulting people to people engagement,” he said.
Kwatra said that India and Sri Lanka have finalised a series of documents, including important documents covering crucial areas of economic cooperation. He said that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on renewable energy.
“Under the Neighbourhood First policy, which was enunciated by Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji, the two leaders also finalized a series of documents, important documents covering crucial areas of economic cooperation. The first was the MoU on renewable energy. The focus of this MoU is essentially on two aspects one relating to the specific cooperation in wind-solar segments of renewable energy, but also on establishing high capacity InterGrid connectivity in the power sector between India and Sri Lanka,” Kwatra said.
He said that the second MoU that was signed was related to Trincomali.
“The second one relates to the Trincomali, where both leaders underscored the need to build upon the advantages that have already accrued from the agreement on the Trinco tank farms, the agreement of 2021, and through the MoU exchange today, both sides agreed to develop Trincomali as a regional hub for industry energy, including renewable energy and economic cooperation,” Kwatra said.
Kwatra said that PM Modi and Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe discussed maritime connectivity. He said both countries are looking at connecting Nagapatnam in India with Kankasanthurai in Sri Lanka.
“A crucial element of connectivity, particularly maritime connectivity, discussions were focused on the resumption of passenger ferry services between India and Sri Lanka. In this connection, both sides are looking at connecting Nagapatnam in India with Kankasanthurai in Sri Lanka. This flows from the earlier cooperation on infrastructure development that has already been undertaken in Kankasanthurai through the line of credit from India,” Kwatra said.
“Another key element, again a part of our connectivity-centered partnership was to explore air connectivity from Southern India to Trincomali, Batikala and other destinations in Sri Lanka. You would perhaps all be aware that the increase in the frequency of flights between Jaffna and Chennai currently through the alliance here, currently stands at, I’m told, one flight a day, essentially connectivity throughout the week, every day of the week,” he added.
In the press briefing, Kwatra said that PM Modi and Sri Lankan President noted the implementation of Sri Lanka unique digital identity project which is being implemented using the Indian grant assistance. He said that the two leaders also held discussions on the ongoing recovery of the Sri Lankan economy.
“Both of them, Prime Minister and the SriLankan President noted the successful implementation of the ongoing Sri Lanka unique Digital Identity project which is being implemented through the Indian grant assistance and would assist and enable the Sri Lankan government to deliver and host a lot of citizen-centric services for its people.
“The other key element that came up for discussion with regard to the ongoing recovery of the Sri Lankan economy besides of course the substantial Indian assistance that was offered since the crisis broke out in Sri Lanka related to the role that bilateral trade and investment can play in further speeding up the economic recovery of Sri Lanka. This of course included starting discussions on bilateral economic and technology cooperation agreement and related elements on the start of the use of INR for trade settlements which as you know has been ongoing for some time,” he added.
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday arrived in Delhi on a two-day official visit to India. Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan welcomed Wickremesinghe at the airport.
(SOURCE: ANI)
