Sri Lankan President to visit India from December 15 to 17

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's state visit to India to discuss bilateral relations and economic cooperation.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake will visit India from December 15 to 17, 2024, the foreign ministries of the two countries said on Friday, announcing his first state visit abroad since he won the presidency in September and his party swept the polls in the November general elections.

During his visit to New Delhi, Mr. Dissanayake will meet President Droupadi Murmu and hold bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “and other Indian dignitaries on a range of issues of mutual interest”, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday.

President Dissanayake is also scheduled to participate in a business event in New Delhi aimed at “promoting investment and commercial linkages between India and Sri Lanka” and later, travel to Bodh Gaya, as part of the visit, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.

The Sri Lankan leader’s visit to India assumes significance in the wake of his party’s resounding victory, with a two-thirds majority, in the recent parliamentary election and amid his government’s effort to rebuild the country’s crisis-hit economy. Mr. Dissanayake will also travel to Beijing soon, his government has said.

In the meetings scheduled in New Delhi during his visit, bilateral development projects and potential Indian investments are likely to be discussed, in addition to debt treatment as part of Sri Lanka’s current IMF programme. India’s proposals for greater connectivity with Sri Lanka are expected to be reviewed. Energy sector cooperation and the persisting fisheries conflict in the Palk Strait — Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu are frequently arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters — are also on the agenda, official sources said.

Also Read: Bottom trawling by Indian fishermen must stop: Sri Lanka’s Fisheries Minister

Significantly, the future of a controversial Adani power project in Sri Lanka will likely be discussed. Following the recent indictment of the Adani Group by a U.S. court, the Dissanayake administration said it is reviewing the wind power project that the former government had approved for execution in northern Sri Lanka. While on his campaign trail earlier, Mr. Dissanayake had pledged to cancel the “corrupt deal”, challenging the pricing formula in the power purchasing agreement reached without a competitive bid.