Foreign Secretary Kwatra meets Sri Lankan foreign minister; discusses President Wickremesinghe's India visit

Colombo: Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Tuesday met Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Ali Sabry and discussed bilateral ties and the upcoming state visit of President Ranil Wickremesinghe to India.

Kwatra arrived here on Monday night on a two-day official visit to take stock of several Indian projects and prepare the ground for Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe's trip to India next week.

The Sri Lankan foreign minister in a tweet said he discussed with the Indian foreign secretary the upcoming state visit of Wickremesinghe to India at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Our discussion also centred around strengthening the bilateral relationship between our two countries for the mutual benefit of our people," the tweet said.

Earlier, Kwatra met his Sri Lankan counterpart Aruni Wijewardena for talks.

Officials said Kwatra would assess several Indian projects in multiple sectors which are in the pipeline and prepare the ground for Wickremesinghe's visit to India.

Wickremesinghe will embark on a two-day visit to India on July 21 during which he is expected to meet Modi, officials here said on Sunday.

They said Wickremesinghe will finalise the implementation of several Indian projects related to power and energy, agriculture, and maritime issues in the island nation ahead of his departure for New Delhi.

This will be Wickremesinghe’s first visit to India after being appointed President of the cash-strapped country last year following the ouster of Gotabaya Rajapaksa in a people's uprising in July.

Wickremesinghe has laid emphasis on good relations with India and made it a major plank of his foreign policy.

Wickremesinghe’s visit to India has been on hold for several months after a formal invitation was delivered to him by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in January this year.

The visit comes as Sri Lanka's weak economy shows signs of improvement.

Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves. India offered Sri Lanka an economic lifeline with dedicated credit lines for fuel and essential items.

The island nation, which declared its first-ever credit default in mid-April last year, secured a bailout of USD 2.9 billion from the IMF in March this year, spanning over 4 years subject to reforms being put in place.