Sri Lankan President, Anura Dissanayake, will be making his first international visit since he came to power to India next week. This is being viewed as a good indicator of the relations between India and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s Cabinet spokesperson Dr Nalinda Jayatissa issued a statement mentioning about the President's upcoming visit which will be from December 15th to 17th.
During his visit, President Dissanayake will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu, Cabinet spokesperson Nalinda Jayatissa said on Tuesday.
“He will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath and Deputy Minister of Finance Anil Jayantha Fernando,” said Jayatissa, also the Minister of Health.
The December 15-17 visit is Dissanayake's first overseas visit since being elected the island nation's President in September.
The invitation to visit New Delhi was extended by the External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, who visited Colombo less than a fortnight after Dissanayake's victory.
Dr Jaishankar was the first foreign dignitary to visit Sri Lanka since the National People’s Power (NPP) government led by President Dissanayake who came to power on September 23.
President Dissanayake's visit was on hold until the completion of the Parliamentary election in November when his NPP recorded a historic win, gaining absolute control of the 225-member Parliament.
Meanwhile AFP adds:
New Delhi has been concerned about Beijing's growing toehold in Sri Lanka, which it sees as being within its sphere of geopolitical influence.
India has stepped up infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka in recent years, but China is Sri Lanka's largest bilateral lender.
Loans from Chinese banks have funded large-scale infrastructure projects, some of which have proved to be white elephants.
Dissanayake is expected to travel to Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders sometime next month, the government had announced earlier.
Sri Lanka suffered its worst financial crisis in 2022 when it ran out of foreign exchange to pay for essential imports such as food, fuel and medicines, and defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt.
China is Sri Lanka's largest single lender, accounting for more than half of the island's $13.8 billion bilateral debt at the time of default.
India is in third place with 12 percent of the debt while Japan is second with 19.5 percent.
(With inputs from AFP)