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Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a productive meeting with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Saturday with the two countries fostering their partnership in a range of areas including defence and energy.
Ahead of the talks, Prime Minister was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Independence Square. The Prime Minister is the first foreign leader to pay a State visit to Sri Lanka since President Disanayaka took office in September 2024. Apart from MoU on Defence Cooperation, an MoU was signed between India, Sri Lanka, and Arab Emirates for Cooperation in Development of Trincomalee as an energy hub. A multi-product pipeline is among the initiatives that will be discussed under this MoU. PM Modi and the Sri Lankan President held detailed discussions in restricted and delegation-level format on further deepening the special and close bilateral ties that are rooted in shared history and driven by strong people-to-people linkages. They reviewed cooperation in the fields of connectivity, development cooperation, economic ties, defence relations, reconciliation and fishermen issues. Prime Minister reiterated Sri Lanka's importance in India's Neighbourhood First Policy and Vision MAHASAGAR. He conveyed India's continued commitment to assist in Sri Lanka's economic recovery and stabilization. Following the talks, the two leaders virtually inaugurated several projects. These include 5000 solar rooftop units installed at religious places across Sri Lanka and a temperature-controlled warehousing facility at Dambulla. They also virtually participated in the ground-breaking ceremony for the launch of the 120 MW Sampur Solar power project. The two leaders witnessed the exchange of seven MoUs in the fields of energy, digitization, defence, health and multi-sectoral assistance in the Eastern Province. Prime Minister announced support for the development of the Thirukoneswaram temple in Trincomalee, the Sacred City project in Anuradhapura and the Sita Eliya temple complex in Nuwara Eliya. In the areas of capacity building and economic support, a comprehensive package for training an additional 700 Sri Lankan citizens annually, and the conclusion of Bilateral Amendatory Agreements on Debt Restructuring were also announced. In keeping with the shared Buddhist heritage of the two countries, PM Modi announced that Holy Relics of Lord Buddha from Gujarat would be traveling to Sri Lanka for the International Vesak Day celebrations. PM Modi arrived in Sri Lanka on a three-day visit on Friday from Thailand where he also attended the BIMSTEC summit. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who briefed reporters about PM Modi's Sri Lanka visit, later said that MoU on Defence Cooperation is an umbrella framework document that will make existing defense cooperation initiatives more structured. "There will be activities related to, of course, the continuing and even intensifying the tradition of high-level visits between the two countries, more joint exercises, capacity building in various areas, exchanges in HADR related operations, increasing port calls by naval units of both countries, and also to explore defense industry cooperation between the two sides," he said. Misri said President of Sri Lanka has both during his visit to Delhi and on this occasion and on several other occasions mentioned and stated clearly that Sri Lankan territory will not be used or be allowed to be used in any manner that is inimical or detrimental to India's interests. "In fact, if I recall correctly during discussions today, he said that neither Sri Lanka's land nor the oceans around it will be allowed to be used in any manner inimical to India's security". Answering queries related to the MoU on the development of Trincomalee as an energy hub which involves India, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates, Misri said the actual projects that will be carried out will be discussed by the designated business entities of the three sides. "At the present moment, the way this is structured, it is a government-to-government MoU in order to provide the enabling framework, and to set out some of the broad terms of reference for this cooperation," he said. Misri said the immediate next step that will be enabled by this framework MoU is the identification and nomination of specific agencies and entities that could be government entities or private sector entities or could be entities related to the governments themselves that will try and realize the business-to-business part of this agreement. "So, the actual projects that will be carried out will be discussed in detail by the designated business entities of the three sides, and that is the next step that will ensue. The UAE is a major energy partner for India. It is a strategic partner for India in the energy space, and it was therefore an ideal partner for this particular exercise that is being done for the first time in this region," he said. "And what the exact contours of the UAE role will be is something that is going to be elaborated once the B2B discussions kick off under this MoU," he said. Misri said insofar as the components of the activities are concerned, a multi-product pipeline is one of the things that will be discussed under this particular MoU. "It is something that has been under discussion bilaterally also between India and Sri Lanka, but this is one of the projects which will be covered under this trilateral MoU," he said. "You are aware that in Trincomalee we have the tank farms. Some of them are already being developed and utilized by Lanka IOC, but there are many more that are lying unused, and have not been put to use as yet. And there is a possibility that they will also be developed and utilized under this particular MoU," he added. He said in the business space there are a number of initiatives possible for discussion under an MoU such as this. "I imagine that once the entities get together, they will look at all issues related obviously to financing, to feasibility, to viability, etc., and come up with the projects that can be taken forward on the ground," he said. (ANI)
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