On Sirisena Visit, India, Sri Lanka Ink Civil Nuclear Agreement

NEW DELHI: India and close neighbour Sri Lanka Monday sought to begin a new chapter in their ties as the island nation's newly-elected President Maithripala Sirisena, on his maiden visit abroad since taking over last month, held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and the two sides inked four agreements, including one on civil nuclear cooperation.

Sirisena, who defeated long-time president Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Jan 8 election, signalled the new closeness in bilateral ties, saying Modi is expected to visit his country in March and that they are "eagerly awaiting the glorious event", which would be "an honour and a blessing" to their country. Modi's likely visit would be the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister to the island nation in over 25 years.

Addressing media after delegation-level talks at Hyderabad House, Modi said the agreement on civil nuclear cooperation was "yet another demonstration of our mutual trust". He said it is the first such agreement that Sri Lanka has signed and it "opens new avenues for cooperation, including in areas like agriculture and healthcare".

The two sides held talks on the issue of peace and reconciliation process in the island nation over a working lunch. However, in their speeches, none of the two leaders touched on the subject of the 13th Amendment on devolution of powers to the Tamil-majority Northern Province, which India has been gently pressing Colombo on.

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