Ensure life of respect, dignity to Tamil community in Lanka: Modi to Wickremesinghe

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday nudged Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe to be sensitive about India’s concerns over China’s expanding footprints in the island nation, even as the two leaders agreed to boost connectivity between the neighbouring countries and deepen the bilateral economic partnership.

New Delhi and Colombo agreed that India would develop Trincomalee on the northeastern coast of Sri Lanka as “a national and regional hub of industry, energy and economic activity on the basis of mutual understanding”. The two leaders also agreed to start talks on the proposed Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement.

Modi conveyed to Wickremesinghe New Delhi’s expectation that Colombo would “ensure a life of respect and dignity” for the Tamil community of Sri Lanka. He nudged the Sri Lankan president to hold provincial elections at the earliest and devolve power to the elected councils in accordance with the 13th amendment of the constitution of the country.

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“We believe that the security interests and development of India and Sri Lanka are intertwined. That is why it is essential that we work together keeping in mind each other's safety and sensitivities,” Modi said as he and Wickremesinghe addressed journalists after a meeting in New Delhi. His comment came amid New Delhi’s renewed bid over the past few months – particularly after Sri Lanka plunged into an unprecedented financial crisis last year – to win back the geopolitical clout it had lost to Beijing in the Indian Ocean nation.

The two leaders agreed on a vision document for expanding the economic partnership between India and Sri Lanka. They decided that the work on connecting the electricity grids between the two countries would be expedited and a feasibility study would be conducted for the proposed project of laying petroleum pipeline from India to Sri Lanka. They agreed to study the feasibility of a land bridge between the two nations.

The two sides agreed that the resumption of flights between Jaffna and Chennai had enhanced people-to-people ties and agreed to further expand it to Colombo as well as explore connectivity between Chennai and Trincomalee, Batticaloa and other destinations in Sri Lanka. They decided to resume passenger ferry services between Nagapattinam in India and Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka and work towards early resumption of ferry services between Rameshwaram and Talaimannar, and other mutually agreed places.

An agreement between NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) and Lanka Pay for acceptance of the UPI application in Sri Lanka and an MoU for cooperation in the field of renewable energy were among five key pacts signed between the two sides after the meeting between the two leaders.

Wickremesinghe’s visit to New Delhi from Thursday to Friday was his first after he had taken over as the president of Sri Lanka exactly a year ago following a brief stint as prime minister amid an unprecedented economic crisis in the island nation. This was also the first visit at the level of leadership from Colombo to New Delhi after the economic crisis had triggered political turmoil resulting in a change of regime, with the ouster of Gotabaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa from power.

New Delhi had extended assistance worth about $ 4 billion to Sri Lanka last year, through multiple Credit lines and currency support, to tide it over the economic crisis. India also recently extended by one more year the tenure of the $ 1 billion credit facility it had extended to Sri Lanka in March 2022 to help the cash-strapped nation to procure fuel, medicines, food items and industrial raw materials.

India was also the first creditor nation in January 2023 to convey the financing assurances needed to kick start the IMF process to bail out Sri Lanka with a $2.9 billion bailout package, followed by China.

Wickremesinghe said that he had told Modi about the extraordinary challenges that Sri Lanka had experienced in economic, social and political terms in the past year as well as about reform measures that he had spearheaded in overcoming the challenges. He conveyed to Modi Sri Lanka's "profound appreciation" for the solidarity and support rendered to the country by India.