COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G L Peiris will be in India on July 10 and 11 for meetings with Telengana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, officials sources said here on Friday.
Peiris will meet Rao and Naidu in Hyderabad on July 10 and Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi on July 11. Sources said the meetings were fixed at the request of the Lankan Foreign Minister.
Lankan governments from the time of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2002-04, have had close relations with Chandrababu Naidu as he is seen as an innovator in governance through his e-governance initiative. He is also seen as a friend of Sri Lanka. The close ties with Naidu led to the Lankan garment major Brandix to invest heavily in Vishakapatnam. Brandix’s venture in AP is cited as an example of India’s openness to investments from Lanka.
In New Delhi, Peiris is expected to discuss all major bilateral and regional issues including the dispute over fishing, the full implementation of the devolution package contained in the 13th Amendment of the Lankan constitution, development of the Tamil speaking Northern Province, the proposed visit of the UN human rights investigating team to Lanka, and the shared fear of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism.
Peiris had discussions with Swaraj before when she came to Lanka in April 2012, in her capacity as the head of a multi-party parliamentary delegation and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
On July 8 and 9, the Lankan Foreign Minister will be hosting a South African delegation headed by Acting President Cyril Ramaphosa. The South African delegation will be discussing with Lankan government leaders and political parties the possibility of instituting a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) by way addressing the festering Tamil question in Lanka.