India and Sri Lanka on Saturday exchanged several MoUs during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the island nation. This came after the Prime Minister, who landed in Colombo after concluding his visit to Thailand, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the historic Independence Square in the heart of the Sri Lankan capital, in perhaps the first such honour given to a foreign leader.
President Dissanayake received the prime minister at the Square — the venue for national day celebrations and takes its name from the Independence Memorial Hall built to commemorate the island nation’s independence from British rule in 1948.
The two countries have exchanged a total of seven MoUs in defence, energy, digital infrastructure, health and trade sectors in the presence of PM Modi and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
India, UAE and Sri Lanka also exchanged a trilateral MoU in the presence of the two leaders. This is PM Modi’s first visit since Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake assumed office last year. The ongoing visit also comes following Dissanayake’s visit to India in December – his first state visit since he took charge.
After exchanging MoUs, PM Modi expressed his gratitude towards Sri Lankan President Dissanayake for the Sri Lanka Mitra Vibhushan award and called the reatinship between New Delhi and Colombo “historical”.
“…Today, to be honoured with the Sri Lanka Mitra Vibhushan award by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake—it’s not an honour to me but to 140 crore Indians. It shows the historical relation and deep friendship between the people of Sri Lanka and India, and for this, I thank the president, the government of Sri Lanka, and the people here,” the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister said that the bilateral debt restructuring agreement exchanged between the two countries will be of immediate help to the people of Sri Lanka.
“In the last 6 months, we have converted loans of over 100 million into grants. Our bilateral debt restructuring agreement will be of immediate help to the people of Sri Lanka. Today, we have also decided to lower the interest rates. It shows that even today, India stands with the people of Sri Lanka. For the development of Eastern states, approximately 2.4 billion Sri Lankan Rupees will be provided,” he said.
During his address, PM Modi said that among several issues, he discussed the issue of fishermen and agreed to adopt a humanitarian approach. “I am happy to share that the relics that were found in the Aravalli of my home state, Gujarat, are being sent to Sri Lanka for darshan… We discussed the fishermen’s issues, and we agreed on a humanitarian approach. We should release them quickly and give them the boats. We also discussed reconciliation,” he said.
The talks and MoU exchange were held a day after Modi arrived in the Sri Lankan capital after concluding his trip to Bangkok where he attended a summit of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation).
