INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Indias External Affairs Minister Dr
Jaishankar will take a trip to Sri Lanka next week, sources told The Hindu.This will be his very first journey to the nation because
President Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn-in last July after street demonstrations forced out the previous Rajapaksa regime.Officials stated
that while a complete review of bilateral ties is on the agenda, the see comes in the middle of efforts by the Sri Lankan government to get
composed financial guarantees from their closest and most significant financial institutions-- India and China-- on reorganizing their
This is needed to make progress on their bailout strategy being talked about with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Jaishankars two-day see to Colombo, scheduled for January 19-20, will follow a visit by a ministerial delegation of the Communist Party of
The sees, coming back-to-back, are vital for Colombo to get itself of the USD 2.9 billion IMF bundle under its Extended Fund Facility.The
Sri Lankan government has actually said that it intends to obtain more money once the IMF program starts, to set its economy on a path to
recovery following last years crushing meltdown.China, Japan, and India are Sri Lankas 3 biggest bilateral creditors, and Colombo is
counting on their cooperation for financial revival.On Friday, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo revealed that a top-level delegation of the
CPC led by the International Department Vice Minister Chen Zhou will visit Sri Lanka 14-18 January, the first official check out of the CPC
to the island in the new year of 2023 and after its 20th National Congress
India has been included closely in helping Sri Lankas economic recovery program after a near-debt default in 2015, and has actually been
coordinating with other partners like the United States and Japan, both on a bilateral level and at the Quads meetings, in order to find
methods to help Sri Lanka overcome its monetary crisis
Strategic ties struck a block over the Sri Lankan federal governments decision to allow a Chinese satellite tracking vessel into Hambantota
port last August, a development that both India and the US formally opposed against.In another indicator of the growing faultlines in Sri
Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung informed the BBC news service on Thursday that China need to not play spoiler , and that Beijing should
provide the required financing assurances without delay for the sake of the Sri Lankan people
The Indian External Affairs Minister was last in Colombo in March 2022, as India revealed an extraordinary $4 billion assistance bundle to
assist Sri Lanka at the height of its crisis
He earlier met the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry on the sidelines of the ASEAN conference in Cambodia in August, guaranteeing him of
Indias dedication to be a reputable pal and trustworthy partner to Sri Lanka.Mr
Jaishankar will likewise talk about trade and transit ties with Indias neighbour
New Delhi and Colombo are in talk with enhance ferry connectivity, following the reboot of Chennai-Jaffna flights last month, for the very
first time after the COVID-19 pandemic
The Wickremesinghe federal government has devoted to resuming negotiations on the stalled Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement
Jaishankars go to comes even as Mr
Wickremesinghe is holding talks with Sri Lankas Tamil political leadership on a resilient political solution
The Tamil parties have actually expressed issues over the lack of any tangible action on their demands relating to land grabs in the north
and east, the release of political prisoners and answers to households of disappeared persons
These are problems that the External Affairs Minister had actually raised last year, in talks with the then-Rajapaksa administration.Source:
