NEW DELHI: In an Ambassador-level trilateral meeting, India, Japan and Sri Lanka, spoke about ways to forge ties that would lead to a free and open Indo Pacific.
"The Japanese PM, Fumio Kishida, had highlighted that South Asia as one of the major pillars in Free and Open Indo Pacific. Japan attaches primary importance to ties to India and Sri Lanka as they are indispensable partners,’’ said Japanese Ambassador to India, Hiroshi Suzuki in Delhi on Thursday.
He was speaking on the opening session of the India-Sri Lanka-Japan Trilateral Cooperation.
Ambassador Suzuki also said that they attached a lot of importance to transparent and equitable debt restructuring where all countries take part, he also complimented India’s financial support to Sri Lanka which helped in their debt restructuring. He also said that there should be equal treatment for all creditor countries when it comes to Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Ambassador, Milinda Moragoda said that India played a significant role in Sri Lanka’s recovery.
"The role of private sectors from both India and Japan have to be enhanced by way of more investments in Sri Lanka. There are four pivotal collaboration areas between India, Japan and Sri Lanka. These include low-carbon power generation, energy hub development, logistics and connectivity and people to people contacts. These proposed collabs aim to strengthen Sri Lanka’s connectivity and trade potential as well as promoting tourism, education, training and skills development,’’ said Ambassador Moragoda.
Meanwhile, Puneet Agrawal, Joint Secretary (Indian Ocean Region) Ministry of External Affairs said that connectivity lay at the core of India’s approach to economic revival of Sri Lanka.
"In terms of maritime connectivity, we are focused on resumption of passenger ferry service between India and Sri Lanka. There is an emphasis on energy, power connectivity and Japan is a reliable partner for both India and Sri Lanka,’’ Agrawal added.