{"id":77726,"date":"2022-05-27T00:09:52","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T04:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=77726"},"modified":"2022-05-27T21:09:14","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T01:09:14","slug":"india-and-japan-have-agreed-to-work-together-on-assisting-crisis-hit-sri-lanka-following-a-meeting-between-prime-ministers-narendra-modi-and-fumio-kishida-in-tokyo-on-may-24-on-the-sidelines-of-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=77726","title":{"rendered":"India and Japan have agreed to work together on assisting crisis-hit Sri Lanka, following a meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on May 24 on the sidelines of the Quad summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

By
\nMeera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

India and Japan have agreed to work together on assisting crisis-hit Sri Lanka, the Japanese government said, following a recent meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Fumio Kishida in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Mr. Modi and Mr. Kishida met on May 24 on the sidelines of the Quad summit and held bilateral talks on \u201cclose cooperation\u201d to promote efforts to realise a \u2018Free and Open Indo-Pacific\u2019, in addition to collaboration in spheres including defence, clean energy, and investment. <\/p>\n

Following the meeting, Japan\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the leaders \u201cdiscussed the situation in Sri Lanka and confirmed that they will cooperate with each other in light of the current economic crisis and deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the country.\u201d Further, they \u201cshared the view to work together to develop Indo-Pacific Economic Framework into an inclusive framework that will bring substantive benefits to the region,\u201d according to a statement.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ministry of External Affairs made no specific mention of Sri Lanka. \u201cThe two leaders exchanged views on recent global and regional developments. They noted the convergences in their respective approaches to the Indo-Pacific and reaffirmed their commitment towards a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region,\u201d read its May 24 statement.<\/p>\n

For over half a century, Japan has been one of Sri Lanka\u2019s top donors and development partners, although its grants and investments have received much less attention compared to those from China or India.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s announcement of collaborating with India to help Sri Lanka, assumes significance, coming shortly after Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019s proposal that Quad members\u2014 United States, India, Japan, and Australia \u2014 take the lead in setting up a foreign aid consortium to assist Sri Lanka, that is reeling under the worst economic crisis since Independence. India has extended about $ 3.5 billion assistance since January this year, by way of loan deferments and credit lines for essential imports.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s initiative also comes despite Colombo scrapping two major infrastructure projects with Japanese involvement. In September 2020, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered the termination of a $ 1.5-billion Japanese-funded light rail project, on that basis that it was not a \u201ccost-effective solution\u201d. In early 2021, Sri Lanka ejected Japan and India out of a trilateral project to jointly develop a container terminal at the strategically located Colombo Port, causing considerable diplomatic tensions. India\u2019s Adani Group was subsequently roped in to develop another terminal at the same port. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, addressing the \u2018International conference on the future of Asia\u2019 organised by Nikkei virtually, Mr. Gotabaya said Sri Lanka \u201curgently requires\u201d assistance of friends in the international community \u201cto ensure that our immediate needs in terms of the importation of essential medicines, food supplies, and fuel are met.\u201d<\/p>\n

Japan \u201cremains one of Sri Lanka\u2019s key development partners\u201d, the Sri Lankan President said, expressing hope that ongoing negotiations on \u201cbridging funds\u201d from Japan would soon conclude. \u201cWe are also in urgent need of bridging financing to restore confidence in our external sector and stabilise our economy until the debt restructuring process is completed and an IMF programme commences,\u201d he said, while thanking India, Sri Lanka\u2019s \u201cclose friend and neighbour\u201d.<\/p>\n

Colombo earlier sought India\u2019s help in securing bridge financing to cope with the downturn, until an International Monetary Fund package materialises. The government is in talks with IMF on debt restructuring after opting for a preemptive default on its foreign debt of about $ 50 billion.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan India and Japan have agreed to work together on assisting crisis-hit Sri Lanka, the Japanese government said, following a recent meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Fumio Kishida in Tokyo. Mr. Modi and Mr. Kishida met on May 24 on the sidelines of the Quad summit and held bilateral talks on …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘India and Japan have agreed to work together on assisting crisis-hit Sri Lanka, following a meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on May 24 on the sidelines of the Quad summit’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77727,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77726\/revisions\/77727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}