On Thursday evening, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar too discussed several bilateral issues with the visiting leader.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, held talks with visiting Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and the wide-ranging talks mainly focused on how the two countries could boost overall economic and strategic cooperation.
As per a report in Reuters, India and Sri Lanka will also have a discussion about the petroleum line, land bridge connectivity between the nations. The talks will be held in New Delhi.
For those caught unaware, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe is on a two-day visit to India.
Last year, India's support was critical for Sri Lanka after the latter sank into a financial crisis due to running out of dollars. That’s when India came to its aid while Sri Lanks was struggling to fund essential imports including fuel and medicine. At the time, India gave $4 billion in rapid assistance between January and July 2022 to Sri Lanka. It also included lines of credit for purchases of food and fuel.
Not just that, India also provided guarantees to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order for Sri Lanka to secure a USD 2.9 billion bailout package.
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, during his visit to India, mentioned how the two countries have agreed on a "vision" with an aim to boost their economic partnership.
"An opportunity to review and lend further momentum to the long-standing India-Sri Lanka ties as the two countries celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations this year," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stated on Twitter as Modi and Wickremesinghe kicked off their talks.
Ahead of the high-level talks, NSA Ajit Doval too had called on Wickremesinghe to discuss security cooperation between the two countries. On Thursday evening, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on Wickremesinghe to have a discussion about the various bilateral issues.
Wickremesinghe’s visit to India is now his first tour of India by any Sri Lankan leader since the island nation was hit by an economic crisis last year.
