‘Will not be allowed to be used against India’, what did the Sri Lankan President say?

India-Sri Lanka relations: Sri Lankan President Anuar Kumar Dissanayake on Monday (December 17) met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi clearly assured that the island nation’s territory will not be allowed to be used against India’s interests. The assurance came amid India’s concerns over China’s efforts to exert influence over Sri Lanka.

Dissanayaka, who was on a three-day visit to India, had extensive talks with Prime Minister Modi. During this, India and Sri Lanka resolved to soon finalize a defense cooperation agreement to expand their partnership and also decided to strengthen energy ties by establishing electricity grid connectivity and multi-product petroleum pipelines.

‘India will provide financial assistance’

PM Modi said in his media statement that he and the Sri Lankan President are in complete agreement that the security interests of both the countries are interconnected and in this sequence it was decided to finalize the security cooperation agreement soon. PM Modi informed Dissanayaka about India’s continued support to the island nation which is striving for economic reform and stability. Two years ago, Sri Lanka had to face a massive economic crisis and India gave it financial assistance of four billion US dollars.

Both the leaders directed the officials to finalize the discussions on bilateral MoU on debt restructuring. Modi said, “We have adopted a futuristic approach to our partnership. We have emphasized investment-based development and connectivity in our economic partnership.” He said, “We have decided that physical, digital and energy connectivity will be the key pillars of our partnership. We will work towards establishing power-grid connectivity and multi-product petroleum pipelines between the two countries.”

Sri Lankan President said this

The Sri Lankan President said in his remarks that the Indian Prime Minister has assured to always protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka. He said, “I have also assured the Prime Minister that we will not allow our land to be used for any work which is harmful to the interests of India.” Dissanayaka said, “Cooperation with India will definitely flourish. And I want to assure our continued support for India.”

Ferry service will start between Rameshwaram and Talaimanar

Prime Minister Modi also announced that to improve connectivity between the two countries, a ferry service will be started between Rameshwaram and Talaimanar. PM Modi said, “We have jointly decided that after the successful launch of the Nagapattinam-Kankesanthurai ferry service, we will also start the ferry service between Rameshwaram and Talaimannar.”

Issues related to fishermen were also discussed in the talks. Modi said, “We also discussed issues related to the livelihood of fishermen. We agreed that we should adopt a humanitarian approach in this matter.” Referring to the issue of Tamils, he said that India hopes that the Sri Lankan government will fulfill the aspirations of the community. Modi said, “We also talked about reconstruction and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. President Dissanayaka conveyed to me his inclusive approach. We hope that the Sri Lankan government will fulfill the aspirations of the Tamil people.”

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