Sri Lanka on Saturday rolled out the red carpet for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake according him a ceremonial welcome at the historic Independence Square in the heart of the capital ahead of talks aimed at bolstering cooperation in areas ranging from energy to defence.
Modi arrived in Colombo on Friday evening after attending the Bimstec (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) Summit in Bangkok.
Indian officials said the ceremonial welcome for Modi at Independence Square – which is the venue for national day celebrations and takes its name from the Independence Memorial Hall built to commemorate Sri Lanka’s independence from British rule in 1948 – was the first time a foreign leader was given such an honour.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a social media post that the talks between Modi and Dissanayake would foster a partnership for a shared future and mutual prosperity of the two sides.
Following one-to-one talks between the two leaders, they went into a meeting with their delegations. The two sides are expected to unveil about 10 outcomes, including agreements on defence cooperation, inter-connection of the electricity grids of the two countries and the development of an energy hub at Trincomalee in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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The memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation, which will be the first such agreement between the two countries, will institutionalise joint exercises, training and high-level exchanges and possibly lead to cooperation in defence industry, people familiar with the matter said.
More significantly, the MoU will help turn the page on India’s troubled intervention in Sri Lanka’s civil war, in the form of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) that was deployed in the island nation between July 1987 and March 1990. Modi will also visit the IPKF Memorial in Colombo on Saturday to pay tribute to the 1,155 Indian soldiers killed in Sri Lanka.
Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka comes at a time when the island nation is showing signs of recovery from its worst economic crisis in 2022. India’s financial assistance of more than $4 billion, including credit lines and a currency swap arrangement, played a crucial role in helping Sri Lanka tide over the crisis.
Modi and Dassanayake will also inaugurate several India-backed projects and witness the virtual ground-breaking for the Sampur solar energy project.
On April 6, Modi and Dissanayake will travel together to the historic city of Anuradhapura, where they will pay their respects at the Mahabodhi temple and jointly inaugurate two India-assisted railway projects.