Sitharaman meets with Sri Lanka's president, promises assistance with debt restructuring
During her visit to Sri Lanka, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with the Sri Lankan President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to discuss various issues. Following the meeting, the Finance Ministry informed that Wickremesinghe appreciated the multi-faceted support provided by India to Sri Lanka during the economic crisis. Sitharaman assured that India would continue to collaborate with the Sri Lankan Government on matters related to debt restructuring.
During their meeting, India and Sri Lanka discussed their joint initiatives in the economic and commercial sphere. Sitharaman emphasized that the 'Vision document on Economic Partnership', which was adopted during his visit to India in July 2023, would further strengthen the countries' maritime, air, digital, energy, and people-to-people connectivity. The Finance Minister also thanked the Sri Lankan president for inviting her as a guest of honour at the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the arrival of Indian-origin Tamils in Sri Lanka. She complimented him for the excellent organization of the event. President Wickremesinghe emphasized Sri Lanka's vision to build a new market economy focusing on tourism, sustainability, agricultural modernization, and digitization. He also welcomed collaboration with India in these areas.
Sitharaman offered that India could become the lead partner in the initiative through technical collaboration. She also expressed satisfaction with the progress made in recent negotiations on the economic and technology cooperation agreement and UPI-based digital payments and shared her views on investment-based support and bilateral investment treaty. They also had discussions on cooperation in Inter-grid connectivity, aviation, power projects, and oil exploration in Mannar.
In the continued tradition of friendly relations between India and Sri Lanka, Sitharaman and Wickremesinghe witnessed the exchange of a Letter of Exchange and Acceptance of a Memorandum of Understanding for the promotion of Buddhist ties between India and Sri Lanka. They also witnessed an exchange of MoUs on solar electrification of religious places in Sri Lanka. For this project, India will allocate Rs 82.40 crore out of the government of India's grant assistance of Rs 107.47 crore earmarked for promoting Buddhist ties.
