New Delhi: Sri Lanka wants to expand its market share in India, which includes setting up business councils in Mumbai and Chennai.
The Sri Lankan high commission in India has come out with a 27 page “integrated country strategy” or a road map that aims to strengthen ties with India on several areas like trade, defence, connectivity, and people to people with a mandate of two years. The document highlighted that “being both essentially multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural countries, Sri Lanka and India have much in common. The sharing of their similar experiences is an ongoing process.”
The document has been prepared by Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner-designate Milinda Moragoda, Chargé d’ Affaires Niluka Kadurugamuwa, with Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions–in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai working together. The roadmap has been envisaged for the next two years.
When it comes to trading, one of the main aims of Sri Lanka is to increase exports from the country and expand Sri Lanka’s market share in India, which includes setting up business councils in Mumbai and Chennai, recognition of Sri Lankan food testing laboratories by India.
The document contains two parts. Part I, which is the strategic framework, outlining seven Goals, and several objectives under each Goal. In Part II, the Goals and Objectives are further described and justified, and key tasks to achieve their implementation have also been proposed.
When it comes to defence and Indian ocean security, the focus areas are: facilitate Sri Lanka’s participation in four bilateral and multilateral military exercises per year, visits of top Sri Lankan defence leadership like Secretary Defence, Chief of Defence Staff, Commander of the Army, Commander of the Navy, Commander of the Air Force and Director General Coast Guard one per year and “full utilization of the relevant berths offered by the Ministry of Defence of India to Sri Lanka”.
Aim also is to establish the Office of the Defence Advisor, in the High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi. India in 2019 announced a $ 50 million special Line of Credit for counter-terrorism activities which is still to be utilized by Sri Lanka, the document pointed out.
On the connectivity front, the document aims to facilitate an increase in air, sea, electrical grid and digital connectivity between Sri Lanka and India. Sri Lankan missions have been asked, under the document to identify new air destinations for Sri Lankan airlines flights, operationalize already identified destinations such as Ahmedabad and pursue the resumption or establishment of passenger ferry services between Sri Lanka and India.
