Modi visit to Sri Lanka

New bounce in India-Sri ties: 4 pacts, $318 million for railways, currency swap

March 13, 2015March 13, 2015 - by India Writes Network

Imparting a renewed momentum to their bilateral ties, India and Sri Lanka have signed four agreements in areas of visa, customs, youth development and culture during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to the island country.
Mr Modi also pledged support for making Trincomalee into a petroleum hub and announced that New Delhi will provide a fresh Line of Credit of up to $ 318 million for the development of the railways sector in Lanka. India also agreed to a ‘Currency Swap Agreement’ of $1.5 billion to help keep the Sri Lankan economy stable.
Mr Modi held wide-ranging talks with Sri Lankan President MaithripalaSirisena in Colombo on March 13 that saw the two leaders charting a roadmap for galvanising their multifaceted ties. The four pacts, signed after the talks, included providing facility of travelling without visa to diplomats, cooperation in customs, youth development, and for establishing a Rabindranath Tagore museum.
The India-Sri Lanka relations had languished during the last few years of the MahindaRajapaksa presidency due to his overtly pro-China policies. Mr Sirisena underlined his intention known of building robust relations with New Delhi by making India his first foreign visit within weeks of taking charge as the president of the island nation.

Delhi-Colombo Bonding: New Frontiers

March 13, 2015March 13, 2015 - by Manish Chand

New Beginnings, New Hopes and New Horizons.
These expressions may sound like rhetorical hyperboles to some, but summarise the essence of the current transformational moment in relations between India and Sri Lanka, which has acquired a new bounce and energy after the formation of the new government in Colombo in January this year.
All eyes in the region will be on the meeting between Mr Modi and Mr Sirisena as they unveil an ambitious roadmap for multi-pronged acceleration of bilateral ties across diverse areas, including trade and investment, development cooperation, defence cooperation and reconstruction of the island nation.
With the new government in Colombo upbeat about dovetailing the India story to that of the island’s unfolding resurgence, the sky is virtually the limit for India-Sri Lanka relations.
Expect new doors to open up in this time-tested relationship.

Swaraj in Sri Lanka: Transforming ties and China factor

March 7, 2015March 7, 2015 - by India Writes Network

The ongoing two-day visit of India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is the third bilateral high-level exchange in two months, and underlines a new vitality in multifarious relations between the two neighbours.
India’s foreign minister’s visit is aimed at setting the stage for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to the island nation next week. The visit is the first by any Indian prime minister since Rajiv Gandhi’s trip in 1987. Mr Modi will be on a multi- city tour in Sri Lanka, visiting the Jaffna province as well as addressing the Sri Lankan parliament.
In the days to come, Sri Lanka shall have to do some tightrope walking to keep the investment flowing in from China, while tilting towards India. Amid the shifting geopolitics of the region, one can safely say that the new government in Colombo has begun course correction by underlining the centrality of New Delhi to Colombo’s national interests even as it pursues its economic ties with Beijing, albeit in a possibly attenuated manner.