New Delhi: In the first virtual engagement with a neighbouring country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold talks with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on September 26 which is in line with India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ approach and SAGAR doctrine.
Besides reviewing the broad framework of the bilateral relationship, deepened collaborative partnership on key issues of mutual interest, the focus of the talks between the two leaders will be on enhancing economic cooperation, maritime security, defence, power sector, culture and tourism.
There have been regular interactions between the leaders of both countries. Prime Minister Modi has maintained regular interaction with both the President and Prime Minister of the island nation.
The Virtual Summit, according to the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Anurag Srivastava “is preceded by the State visits of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to India last November and February 2020.”
During the global lockdown the leaders have been in touch and India has also sent help to tackle the health and economic impact of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier on September 2, India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay met with the Minister of Power, Dullas Alahapperuma and handed over a copy of letter from the government offering a Line of Credit (LoC) for US$100 million. This is for the three projects which were announced during the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Founding Conference which had taken place in New Delhi in March 2018.
According to an official release from the Indian High Commission, this LoC will help finance for rooftop solar systems which are for 20,000 households and 1,000 government buildings all across the island.
The combined generation capacity of these rooftop systems will be about 60 MW and the help from India will also finance a floating solar power plant. Once the LoC Agreement is inked the LoC will be implemented.
Last month, India’s new Defence Advisor, Indian Navy Captain Vikas Sood had a series of meetings with the top officers of the Indian Navy and the armed forces and the focus was on strengthening the defence cooperation between the two sides.
Some of the key elements of this military cooperation include: almost 50 per cent of all foreign military training slots in India are allocated to Sri Lankan defence personnel, joint training and exercises, there are regular high-level exchanges and visits, ship visits and sports interactions.
Both Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Ports Authority played a significant role during the repatriation of Indian nationals from the island country when in June INS Jalashwa undertook a visit to get back the stranded Indians there.
