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Mangala in New Delhi: Mission to rebuild ties
Sri Lanka has always had excellent ties with China over the years, but it shall not be at the risk of jeopardising its relations with immediate neighbours, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said on the eve of his departure to New Delhi.
Mr. Samaraweera reached New Delhi yesterday. Significantly, it is the first official visit of a member of the new Cabinet to a foreign capital. The minister is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
“The day I was sworn in, I had a call from Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who is an old friend because we were both telecommunications ministers on either side of the Palk Strait in the 90s,” Minister Samaraweera told the Sunday Times. “She visited Sri Lanka several times.”
“When she invited me to lunch on Sunday, I immediately accepted,” he said. “It was more a personal invitation than an official visit at the start. But it has now evolved to a fully-fledged official visit. Even Prime Minister Modi has given me an appointment to meet him on Monday as has the national security adviser.”
The minister said they hoped to “discuss several bilateral issues and ways of means of putting the excellent relations we maintained with India over the years back on track”.
The Ministry —now called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again —only changed hands on Monday, with the new Cabinet being sworn in.That left just four days for Mr. Samaraweera to update himself about everything that had transpired in India-Sri Lanka relations over the past few years. He was foreign minister in President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first Cabinet until he lost the portfolio in January 2007.
“We are prepared and I have been getting briefings from officials,” he revealed. He did not take any officers from the Foreign Ministry, preferring to let Sri Lanka’s mission in New Delhi handle affairs.
On Friday, as “a gesture of goodwill”, the Attorney General started procedures to release all Indian fishermen and boats in Sri Lankan custody. “This will be done within the next few days,” Minister Samaraweera said. “We need a clean slate to begin with. We have moved over various difficulties before.”
The Indian poaching issue has been an “irritant”, the foreign minister said, adding that the wider bilateral issues will be discussed and sorted out in the months to come.
Meanwhile, Minister Samaraweera has lifted restrictions on all foreign journalists visiting the country. Earlier, visa applications lodged at various diplomatic missions abroad were referred to the ministry for an additional layer of approval. From Friday, that process was scrapped, giving embassies and high commissions the full discretion to issue visas.
“All journalists anywhere in the world are free to visit Sri Lanka and visas will be issued,” the minister said. “It is the policy of the new administration that they are most welcome. I have already asked officials at the Foreign Ministry to inform all our missions abroad.”