{"id":85213,"date":"2024-12-14T01:11:12","date_gmt":"2024-12-14T05:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=85213"},"modified":"2024-12-14T17:12:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T21:12:08","slug":"85213","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=85213","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake Undertakes his First State Visit Abroad After Winning the Presidency in September; Three Day Visit to India from December 15 to 17"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake will visit India from December 15 to 17, 2024, the foreign ministries of the two countries said on Friday (December 13, 2024), announcing his first state visit abroad since he won the presidency in September and his party swept the polls in the November general elections.<\/p>\n

During his visit to New Delhi, Mr. Dissanayake will meet President Droupadi Murmu and hold bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and \u201cand other Indian dignitaries on a range of issues of mutual interest\u201d, Sri Lanka\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday (December 13, 2024).<\/p>\n

President Dissanayake is also scheduled to participate in a business event in New Delhi aimed at \u201cpromoting investment and commercial linkages between India and Sri Lanka\u201d and later, travel to Bodh Gaya, as part of the visit, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Development cooperation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sri Lankan leader\u2019s visit to India assumes significance in the wake of his party\u2019s resounding victory, with a two-thirds majority, in the recent parliamentary election and amid his government\u2019s effort to rebuild the country\u2019s crisis-hit economy. Mr. Dissanayake will also travel to Beijing soon, his government has said.<\/p>\n

In the meetings scheduled in New Delhi during his visit, bilateral development projects and potential Indian investments are likely to be discussed, in addition to debt treatment as part of Sri Lanka\u2019s current IMF programme. India\u2019s proposals for greater connectivity with Sri Lanka are expected to be reviewed. Energy sector cooperation and the persisting fisheries conflict in the Palk Strait \u2014 Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu are frequently arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters \u2014 are also on the agenda, official sources said.<\/p>\n

Significantly, the future of a controversial Adani power project in Sri Lanka will likely be discussed. Following the recent indictment of the Adani Group by a U.S. court, the Dissanayake administration said it is reviewing the wind power project that the former government had approved for execution in northern Sri Lanka. While on his campaign trail earlier, Mr. Dissanayake had pledged to cancel the \u201ccorrupt deal\u201d, challenging the pricing formula in the power purchasing agreement reached without a competitive bid.<\/p>\n

Turning a page<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr. Dissanayake\u2019s visit also turns a page in the complex story of Indo-Lanka ties, especially for the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP or People\u2019s Liberation Front) that leads the ruling National People\u2019s Power (NPP) alliance. In the 1980s, the JVP militantly opposed \u201cIndian hegemony\u201d and the India-brokered Accord. Even as the party with Marxist-Leninist roots refashioned itself, Mr. Dissanayake has repeatedly sought to allay fears of \u201canti-Indian\u201d sentiments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world has changed, our party has also changed,\u201d he told The Hindu in a 2023 interview. \u201cWe do know that India, who is our closest neighbour, has become a major political and economic centre,\u201d he had said. Further, Mr. Dissanayake\u2019s election manifesto stated: \u201cWe shall not allow any country or institution to use Sri Lanka\u2019s land, sea and air spaces to threaten or risk the national security of any country in the region including India.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appearing to recognise this shift and the surge in Mr. Dissanayake\u2019s popularity among Sri Lankans, the Government of India invited him early this year. During his five-day, three-city visit in February 2024, Mr. Dissanayake met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in New Delhi.<\/p>\n

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

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

By Meera Srinivasan Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake will visit India from December 15 to 17, 2024, the foreign ministries of the two countries said on Friday (December 13, 2024), announcing his first state visit abroad since he won the presidency in September and his party swept the polls in the November general elections. …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake Undertakes his First State Visit Abroad After Winning the Presidency in September; Three Day Visit to India from December 15 to 17’ »<\/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\/85213"}],"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=85213"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85216,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85213\/revisions\/85216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}