Sri Lankan envoy discusses procurement of medicines with health minister Mandaviya

Sri Lankan high commissioner Milinda Moragoda specifically raised issues such as assistance in expediting the process for Sri Lankan importers to procure medicines from India

Updated on: Feb 8, 2023, 18:46:46 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar

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NEW DELHI: Sri Lankan high commissioner Milinda Moragoda met Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday to discuss ways to deepen health cooperation, including help in expediting the process for Sri Lankan importers to procure medicines from India.

Sri Lankan high commissioner Milinda Moragoda met Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday (Twitter/SLinIndia)

Mandaviya and Moragoda focused on a range of issues during their meeting, including ways through which existing bilateral cooperation in the health sector could be broadened and deepened.

Moragoda specifically raised issues such as assistance in expediting the process for Sri Lankan importers to procure medicines from India, effective and efficient use of an existing Indian line of credit to purchase essential medicines, and a possible government-to-government mechanism to procure Indian medicines, according to a statement from the Sri Lankan mission.

He also requested Mandaviya to explore the possibility of providing post-doctoral training opportunities for Sri Lankan medical professionals in Indian institutions. Potential opportunities for Indian companies to establish joint ventures and make investments for establishing pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in designated zones in Sri Lanka were also discussed, the statement said.

Moragoda thanked Mandaviya for the assistance extended by the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers to materialize a line of credit of $55 million in 2022 to meet Sri Lanka’s needs of urea for the Yala paddy cultivation season.

Moragoda also met minister of state for external affairs Meenakshi Lekhi on Tuesday to discuss an exhibition on late Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka’s premier architect, to be held in New Delhi next month. He briefed her on activities lined up to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two sides.

The exhibition with the theme “It is essential to be there”, will feature the work of Bawa and will be held at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA). Lekhi pledged support to make the exhibition a success.

The Sri Lanakan high commission has planned a series of activities to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties. It has released the Sinhala translation of Indian author Jairam Ramesh’s book “The Light of Asia: The poem that defined the Buddha” at the Independence Day flag hoisting ceremony held at the mission in New Delhi on February 4.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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