By

Meera Srinivasan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Colombo on Friday (April 4, 2025) night for a weekend visit focused on bilateral discussions and the signing of several key agreements between India and Sri Lanka
Mr. Modi travelled to Sri Lanka after attending the BIMSTEC summit in Thailand, where his engagements included discussions with regional leaders such as Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.

Mr. Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka — on the invitation of Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake — marks the first visit by a foreign leader to Sri Lanka after the island nation witnessed a dramatic political shift last year, with the ascent of the leftist leader and his National People’s Power [NPP] alliance to power. Months after his election win, President Dissanayake visited New Delhi, marking his first state visit abroad in December 2024, when India and Sri Lanka issued a joint statement laying out the main areas of cooperation.

Both leaders took to social media platform ‘X’ on Thursday [April 3, 2024] ahead of the visit, and said they looked forward to strengthening the partnership and exploring new avenues for cooperation. A total eight MoUs will be signed during Mr. Modi’s visit, spanning energy, digital infrastructure, health and defence sectors, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath in an interview to The Hindu earlier this week.

Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha told local media that ties between India and Sri Lanka “have never been better before”. PM Modi’s visit would seek to take forward the “very comprehensive” joint statement adopted during President Dissanayake’s New Delhi visit, he was quoted as saying.
On Saturday [April 5, 2025] Mr. Modi, who will be joined by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, will receive a guard of honour at the Independence Square in Colombo — near a national monument commemorating Sri Lanka’s Independence from British rule — ahead of bilateral talks and the signing out MoUs at the Presidential Secretariat. According to sources in Colombo, Mr. Modi is scheduled to meet several opposition politicians, including those representing the Tamils, on Saturday.

Mr. Modi will also travel to Anuradhapura in the North Central Province] on Sunday [April 6, 2025].

Challenges, expectations

Apart from discussions on continuing economic cooperation, including in debt treatment and potential Indian investment, Mr. Modi and Mr. Dissanayake are expected to take up the sensitive fisheries conflict in which war-affected northern Tamil fisehrmen of Sri Lanka and daily wage fishermen of Tamil Nadu are severely affected.

The contention is around Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu using the ‘bottom-trawling’ fishing method that, their Sri Lankan counterparts and scientists world over say, destroys the marine ecosystem.

Following Ministerial bilateral talks in 2016, on the long persisting dispute, the two sides agreed on “expediting the transition towards ending the practice of bottom trawling at the earliest.” However, Sri Lankan fishermen contend there has been little change since. The issue is in sharp focus, also since Mr. Modi is scheduled to travel directly Rameswaram on April 6, 2025, a major coastal district in Tamil Nadu, from where a sizeable number of bottom trawlers originate.

There is also considerable speculation in Sri Lankan media of the “defence pact” to be signed by the two sides, although specifics of the said cooperation are awaited.

Meanwhile, sections among Sri Lanka’s war-affected Tamils, are also keenly watching Mr. Modi’s visit and his possible message on the pending political solution and delayed provincial council elections.

Leading Tamil daily Virakesari in its editorial on Friday [April 4,2025] noted: “Taking into consideration geopolitical realities, India appears reluctant to take up the Tamil question. It seems that India is in a situation where it must maintain friendly ties with Sri Lanka.” However, on the question of a political solution, Tamils [of the north and east] believe India’s intervention is necessary, the editorial said.

Courtesy:The Hindu