Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is to hold discussions with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today focusing on several key areas concerning the region, including enhanced border security and improving more cooperation in the region. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe who arrived in India yesterday, will also hold meetings with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari and Petroleum and Natural Gas State Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today.
Wickremesinghe is scheduled to meet Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, after his discussions with the top Indian authorities. The Prime Minister will return to the country after attending the opening plenary of the India Economic Summit, along with Commerce State Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tomorrow.
A day before his visit to New Delhi, the Prime Minister, delivering a lecture titled ‘Sri Lanka and its place in the world’ at the main hall of the New Zealand Parliament house, highlighted several critical areas concerning India and the SAARC region. Political observers say Wickremesinghe’s meeting with Modi will also be based on the same matters.
“Following the recent attacks in Uri, upon an Indian Army camp, the SAARC summit, which was scheduled to be held in November, in Islamabad, in Pakistan, has been postponed. During this meeting, I called to mind the SAARC summit of 1985, when Sri Lanka proposed countering border terrorism, which was ultimately not agreed upon due to disagreements among the parties.
This year’s SAARC summit is in jeopardy following the war prevailing on the border. However, as SAARC plays an important role, carrying out the summit is a matter of great importance. During my speech, I stated that a simple basis which all the member states could agree upon must be achieved in order to move forward in the wake of the present situation,” the Prime Minister said.
He also added it was imperative that SAARC and ASEAN work together, so as to benefit all parties involved and improve regional cooperation.
Government sources said the Prime Minister was scheduled to return to the country tomorrow.
On arrival in New Delhi, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was received by Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Y.K. Sinha, Sri Lanka High Commissioner to India Chitranganie Wagiswara and other top officials.
The Prime Minister is accompanied by Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe, Minister Harin Fernando, Secretary to the Prime Minister Saman Ekanayake, Additional Secretary Saman Athaudahetti and Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Sandra Perera.
They will be joined by Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Development Strategies International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama.
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