Foreign Secretary Kwatra arrives in Colombo ahead of Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe’s visit to India

Colombo. Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra arrived in Colombo on Monday night on a two-day official visit to Sri Lanka to take stock of several Indian projects and prepare for the upcoming visit of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe to India. Kwatra landed at Bandaranaike International Airport. Officials said he will take stock of ongoing Indian projects in several sectors and make ground-level preparations for Wickremesinghe’s visit to India. Officials said on Sunday that Wickremesinghe would be on a two-day visit to India on July 21 during which he is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He had said that before leaving for India, Wickremesinghe would finalize the implementation of several Indian projects related to power and energy, agriculture and maritime issues in the island nation. This will be Wickremesinghe’s first visit to India after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted from power amid a popular uprising in July last year and appointed president of the country grappling with its worst economic crisis. Wickremesinghe has emphasized on establishing good relations with India and has made it a major part of his foreign policy.

In January this year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar extended a formal invitation to Wickremesinghe to visit India. The visit is taking place at a time when Sri Lanka’s weak economy is showing signs of recovery. Sri Lanka was hit by a financial crisis in 2022 due to severe shortage of foreign exchange. It is facing the biggest economic crisis after independence from British rule in 1948. The island nation had declared debt default for the first time in mid-April last year. In March this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave him a relief package of $ 2.9 billion.

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