News
President leaves today for India, wide-ranging talks scheduled
View(s):President Anura Kumara Disanayake leaves today on a three-day state visit to India with a 10-member delegation.
He will be the guest of Indian President Droupadi Murmu. Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath and Labour Minister and Deputy Minister of Economic Development Prof. Anil Jayantha Fernando will be part of the delegation.
Two Foreign Ministry officials—Director General (South Asia) Niluka Kadurugamuwa and Acting Protocol Chief Madhuka Wickremaarachchi—will also be in the delegation. The remaining members are an interpreter and security.
On Friday, a Foreign Ministry statement gave few details of the visit other than to state that President Dissanayake will engage “on a range of issues of mutual interest” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi “and other Indian dignitaries.”
Meanwhile, an Indian External Affairs Ministry statement says President Disanayake will also participate in a business event in New Delhi to promote investment and commercial linkages between India and Sri Lanka.
It also says, “Sri Lanka is India’s closest maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and holds a central place in (Indian) Prime Minister’s vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and India’s Neighbourhood First Policy.”
Diplomatic sources said India would expect the state visit to deliver on “more than ceremonial optics” but, on “substance” as well, while these sources were uncertain whether Sri Lanka’s relatively small delegation was purely cost-cutting given this government’s criticism of previous administrations taking large delegations on overseas visits or had any connotations to it.
The Indian side was stressing the need to accelerate what it felt was the momentum following the visit of its External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar soon after President Disanayake’s election in September. They have referred to the grant projects worth USD 65 million given by India and the conversion of loans worth USD 21 million to grants and the rolling over of the pending payment of USD 1.7 billion under the Special Swap Arrangement.
Recently, India has supported the upgrading of schools in the plantations, provided solar rooftop systems to 5,000 religious sites, and extended flood-related assistance in the North and other assistance to fishermen in Trincomalee.
The Sri Lankan side was expected to take up the issue of continuing illegal fisheries by Indian fishermen—an issue India has moved to a working group for several years without a settlement.
A joint statement drafted by New Delhi has been studied by Colombo and will be issued at the end of the presidential visit.
Apart from the official bilateral talks with Prime Minister Modi tomorrow (December 16), President Disanayake is expected to visit Buddha Gaya on Tuesday (December 17) morning, where he will pay homage at the Vajrasana, the sacred Bodhi tree, and at the Maithree Bodhisatva statue in the restricted area of the Mahabodhi Maha Vihara precincts.
During the visit, he will also make offerings at the main temple to the chanting of monks and visit the Sri Lanka temple, which is under the management of the Maha Bodhi Society of India established by Anagarika Dharmapala in 1891.
In New Delhi, President Disanayake will lay a wreath at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial at Rajghat. India’s Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar and National Security Adviser A.K. Doval will call on him at Hotel Mayura, where the visiting Sri Lankan VVIPs will be staying.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Herath, who was earlier expected to leave from Delhi for the CICA (Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia) meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, is expected to return with President Disanayake to Colombo and attend the meeting online.
CICA is a multinational forum for enhancing peace, security, and stability in the Asian region.
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