Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi played host to Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is on a two-day visit to India, in New Delhi. They held talks on a number of issues that concern the two countries and agreed to deepen their relations.
During the discussion, they agreed to cooperate in order to improve in areas such as the economy, renewable energy, the construction of a link bridge, and an oil pipeline.
India agreed to establish an economic hub and develop a port in the city of Trincomalee, on the northeastern coast of Sri Lanka, as support for its journey to economic recovery.
Sri Lanka’s relations with India have grown exponentially in recent times after it received massive support from New Delhi. India’s assistance to Sri Lanka is recorded as running into billions of dollars.
Between January and July 2022, Sri Lanka received over $3 billion in assistance from its Indian Ocean partner.
Sri Lanka has faced economic downturns in recent times, leading to a scarcity of dollars. The country was further plunged into a financial crisis, leading to the government’s inability to effectively carry out its responsibilities, including funding critical sectors of the economy.
Sri Lanka’s situation was responsible for its failure to pay part of its foreign debt in May. The dire economic situation in Sri Lanka drew the attention of Paris Club members, including Japan and India.
While speaking at the meeting between the two leaders, Modi said we “adopted a vision document for our Economic Partnership.”
The economic partnership being referred to by Modi is focused on the cooperative development of the critical sectors in the Sri Lankan economy, including air, energy, and maritime. It also includes encouraging citizen-to-citizen diplomacy so as to ensure the speedy development of tourism, power, trade, higher education, and skill development.
According to Modi, India and Sri Lanka are working assiduously to boost power generation by connecting electricity grids, laying petroleum pipelines, and constructing a 31-mile bridge to link the two countries. These initiatives are expected to cost about $4 billion.
On his part, Wickremesinghe expressed optimism about the project, saying that the plan to construct a multi-product petroleum pipeline from India to Sri Lanka will lead to affordability and reliability. He further said that negotiations will soon begin between the two countries on the need to advance the Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement signed by the two parties.
Recently, the Sri Lankan government began an economic reform policy with the aim of resolving the financial crisis it faces. Wickremesinghe made this known to Modi while expressing gratitude to the people of India and its leadership for their support at a time that he said was the “most challenging period in modern history”.
India has shown unwavering support to Sri Lanka, seeking to help reshape its economy and its financial situation. The two countries share maritime borders marked by the Indian Ocean and have over the years built a strong and common security. They are South Asia’s biggest trading partners.
