Useful meeting, says Jaishankar after reviewing ties with Sri Lankan envoy
External affairs minister Jaishankar said in a tweet that he had a “useful meeting” with Sri Lankan high commissioner Milinda Moragoda and reviewed his recent visit to Lanka and “taking the understandings forward”.
NEW DELHI: Sri Lankan high commissioner Milinda Moragoda met external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday to review bilateral relations against the backdrop of the island nation’s efforts to secure a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The meeting was held less than a fortnight after Jaishankar travelled to Sri Lanka, a visit that was seen as an effort to reset the bilateral relationship following strains caused by a Chinese surveillance vessel calling at Hambantota port last year.
Jaishankar said in a tweet that he had a “useful meeting” with Moragoda and reviewed his recent visit to Sri Lanka and “taking the understandings forward”.
The Sri Lankan high commission said in a statement that Moragoda met the external affairs minister to review the current status of the relations between Sri Lanka and India, and to discuss the “way forward and follow-up action, emanating” from Jaishankar’s recent visit to Colombo.
The joint secretary (Indian Ocean Region) of the external affairs ministry, Puneet Agrawal, and Sri Lankan deputy high commissioner Niluka Kadurugamuwa also participated in the meeting.
Jaishankar concluded his visit to Sri Lanka on January 20. During the visit, he met President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and held official discussions with foreign minister Ali Sabry.
The visit came shortly after India became the first of Sri Lanka’s creditors to back the country’s debt restructuring programme by sending financial assurances to the IMF. China, India and Japan are the crisis-hit island country’s three main creditors.
India provided about $4 billion as financial support last year to help Sri Lanka cope with the country’s worst economic crisis.
