EAM Jaishankar arrives in Sri Lanka for much-anticipated visit; to finalise plans on debt restructuring
The Hindu
Mr. Jaishankar is scheduled to have meetings later on Thursday with his Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabry and President Ranil Wickremesinghe, officials said.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday arrived here for a much-anticipated visit to Sri Lanka, where he will meet the cash-strapped country's top leadership to finalise a debt restructuring plan to help Colombo carve out a path from its worst economic crisis.
Mr. Jaishankar, who rounded off his official visit to the Maldives, was welcomed here by minister of state for foreign affairs Tharaka Balasuriya.
Mr. Jaishankar is scheduled to have meetings later on Thursday with his Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabry and President Ranil Wickremesinghe, officials said.
Debt restructuring will headline Mr. Jaishankar's talks with Sri Lanka's top leadership during his two-day official visit.
Sri Lanka, which is trying to secure a much-needed $2.9 billion bridge loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been trying to get financial assurances from its major creditors — China, Japan and India — which is the requisite for Colombo to get the bailout package.
The IMF bailout has been put on a halt as Sri Lanka pursues talks with creditors to meet the global lender’s condition for the facility.
On Tuesday, President Wickremesinghe said his government has "successfully" completed its debt restructuring talks with India “I can tell this assembly that the talks are successful. Very soon we will have an answer," Mr. Wickremesinghe told the Parliament.
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