(UTV|COLOMBO) – UPDATE: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met visiting Sri Lankan Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe in New Delhi, officials said.
The Sri Lankan PM who arrived in India on Tuesday on a four-day visit will hold bilateral talks with PM Modi and will also call upon President Ram Nath Kovind.
As per reports, PM Wickremesinghe and PM Modi will hold wide-ranging talks on strengthening ties between the two nations including ways to boost trade and security cooperation.
Talks on the issue of Indian fishermen being arrested by Sri Lanka and the growing presence of Chinese Navy around the Island nation are also likely to take place between the two leaders.
Earlier in the day, PM Wickremesinghe participated in the opening ceremony of the fifth Global Conference on Cyber Space (GSSC) at The Aero City in the national capital which was inaugurated by PM Modi.
Prime Minister Modi had visited Sri Lanka in May during which he attended the biggest Buddhist festival ‘Vesak Day’ as its chief guest.
The Sri Lankan Prime Minister will wrap up his visit on Friday.
Source: The Statesman
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(UTV|COLOMBO) – Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (23), days ahead of the joint venture between China Merchants Port Holding Company and Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) starts operations of Hambantota Harbour on December 8.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, who arrived in Delhi on Wednesday, was received by Indian envoy to Sri Lanka Taranjit Sandhu. He will also meet President Ram Nath Kovind, besides attending a conference on cyber-security. He leaves on Friday. The meeting assumes significance since India has expressed interest in investing in Mattala airport in Hambantota district. Once finalised, it will be a strategic investment for New Delhi to enter a project which has been Chinese turf on Lankan soil.
The Indian offer had come within weeks of a Sri Lanka-China agreement on development of Hambantota port, in which the state-run China Merchants Port Holdings will have a 70-per cent stake in a joint venture for a period of 99 years. The Hambantota port and airport projects are part of China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative, and Delhi has been worried about Beijing’s rising influence in Sri Lanka.
It is learnt that the joint venture between the Sri Lankan Airport and Aviation Authority and an Indian firm to run the Mattala airport would come into operation by March next year. Sources said this issue and other bilateral projects will be discussed in the meeting between Prime Ministers Modi and Wickremesinghe.
During the meeting, the two Prime Ministers are also expected to discuss development of the Trincomalee port, a petroleum refinery and other industries in the vicinity of the port. India will set up a 50 MW (extendable to 100 MW) solar power plant in Sampur, near Trincomalee.
Political relations between the two countries have been marked by high-level exchanges of visits at regular intervals. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe visited India in September 2015, his first overseas visit after being appointed PM. He travelled to India a second time in October 2016 for the India Economic Summit, followed by a working visit in April 2017.
Source: The Indian Express
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