New Delhi, Oct 4: External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday to meet the Sri Lankan leadership and his counterpart. Upon his arrival, EAM Jaishankar posted on X: “Good to be in Colombo again. Look forward to my engagements with the Sri Lankan leadership today.”
EAM’s official visit to the island nation will further deepen the longstanding partnership between India and Sri Lanka for mutual benefits. “In keeping with India’s Neighbourhood First Policy and SAGAR outlook, the visit underlines the shared commitment of the two countries to further deepen the longstanding partnership for mutual benefit,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.
This is EAM Jaishankar’s first visit to the neighbouring country after Anura Kumara Dissanayake was sworn in as the ninth Executive President of Sri Lanka on September 23 following his coalition’s victory in the presidential elections.
A day later, National People’s Power (NPP) MP Harini Amarasuriya took the oath of office as the new Prime Minister of the country, only the third woman to hold the position after Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
According to the Lankan Foreign Ministry, during this visit, the External Affairs Minister of India is scheduled to pay courtesy calls to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya. The Indian External Affairs Minister and his delegation will also have a meeting with Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The EAM will be accompanied by senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs of India. India and Sri Lanka have a legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious and linguistic interaction and the relationship between the two countries is more than 2,500 years old. Trade and investment have grown and there is cooperation in the fields of development, education, culture and defence. Both countries share a broad understanding of major issues of international interest.
IANS
