<p align="justify">Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi announced a USD 450 million financial assistance to Sri
Lanka on Friday, including USD 50 million to combat terrorism, following
"fruitful" talks with the newly elected president of the island
nation, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The discussions focused on issues such as meeting
the Tamil community's aspirations in Sri Lanka, ways to strengthen security and
trade ties and addressing fishermen's concerns. Modi said he assured Rajapaksa
of India's full assistance in taking his country on the path of rapid
development in his media statement after the talks.
The Prime
Minister announced a USD 400 million credit line for development projects in
Sri Lanka, in addition to providing a separate USD 50 million fund to help the
country address terrorism challenges. A series of bombings struck Sri Lankan
capital Colombo in April, which killed more than 250 people. "I discussed
in detail with President Rajapaksa how to strengthen our cooperation in the
fight against terrorism. Police officers in Sri Lanka are receiving training in
prominent Indian institutions to counter-terrorism," Modi said.
On Thursday,
Rajapaksa arrived in India on a three-day trip, after taking over Sri Lanka's
reins ten days ago. It was a reflection of the importance he attaches to
relations with India on his first overseas tour. On the lingering issue of
Tamil, Modi said he was confident that the Sri Lankan government would continue
the process of reconciliation and fulfill the Tamil community's aspirations. "The
mandate you got represented the Sri Lankan people's hopes for a strong and
prosperous Sri Lanka. In this regard, India's good wishes and cooperation are
always with Sri Lanka," Modi said. Modi said a stable Sri Lanka is not
only in India's interest but in the Indian Ocean region as a whole. Gotabaya,
for his part, said the talks were "fruitful" and that security
cooperation was a significant focus of the deliberations.
"I have focused on economic cooperation in my talks
with Prime Minister Modi," he said. Gotabaya said earlier that he would
aim to push the bilateral relationship between his country and India to a
"very high level." "I want to push the relationship between
India and Sri Lanka to a very high level during my term as president.
Historically as well as politically, we have a long-standing
relationship," Rajapaksa said.</p>
OSL Take: <p align="justify">Sri
Lankan President’s discussions with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has
resulted in many positive developments. While the Indian leader’s visit sent
the world a message of the close ties between India and Sri Lanka, India also
expressed its commitment to the island nation as its development partner. All
these would boost confidence levels of foreign businesses looking at entering
Sri Lanka’s economy.
Sri Lanka and
India boast of strong bilateral and trade ties that have been further supported
by the free trade agreement (FTA). Sri Lankan businesses are, therefore, given
preferential treatment when engaging in business ventures in India. Local
companies could use this benefit to form joint ventures/partnerships with
Indian companies. Foreign businesses/investors looking at doing business with
India could explore the possibility of setting up base in Sri Lanka to reach
out to the Indian market.</p>
VBS/AT/20200106/Z_TB2
No comments:
Post a Comment