Help to boost Sri Lanka economy will go on: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
During her visit to Sri Lanka, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met President Ranil Wickremesinghe and discussed a host of issues, assuring that India would continue to collaborate with the Sri Lankan government on matters pertaining to debt restructuring.
After the meeting, in a post late on Thursday night, the Finance Ministry informed that Wickremesinghe acknowledged the multi-faceted support to Sri Lanka provided by India during the economic crisis.
They discussed India-Sri Lanka joint initiatives in the economic and commercial sphere.
Sitharaman highlighted that the ‘Vision document on Economic Partnership‘ adopted during his visit to India in July 2023 will further strengthen the countries’ maritime, air, digital, energy, and people-to-people connectivity.
The Finance Minister thanked the Sri Lankan president for inviting her as a guest of honor at the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the arrival of Indian-origin Tamils to Sri Lanka and complimented him for the excellent organization of the event.
President Wickremesinghe emphasized Sri Lanka’s vision to build a new market economy with a focus on tourism, sustainability, agricultural modernization, and digitization and welcomed collaboration with India in these areas.
Sitharaman offered that India could become the lead partner in the initiative through technical collaboration.
She also expressed satisfaction with the progress made in recent negotiations on the economic and technology cooperation agreement and UPI-based digital payments and shared her views on investment-based support and bilateral investment treaty.
They also had discussions on cooperation in Inter-grid connectivity, aviation, power projects, and oil exploration in Mannar.
In the continued tradition of friendly relations between India and Sri Lanka, Sitharaman and Wickremesinghe witnessed the exchange of a Letter of Exchange and Acceptance of a Memorandum of Understanding for the promotion of Buddhist ties between India and Sri Lanka.
They also witnessed the exchange of MoUs on solar electrification of religious places in Sri Lanka. For this project, India will allocate Rs.82.40 crore out of the Government of India grant assistance of Rs.107.47 crore earmarked for the promotion of Buddhist ties.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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Sri Lanka has to be controlled & Ranil Wickremesinghe is a cunning & has slippery tongue. Need to be careful with him.