PM Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake
New Delhi: India and Sri Lanka on Monday resolved to quickly finalize a defense cooperation agreement to expand their partnership. Apart from this, it was decided to strengthen energy relations by establishing electricity grid connectivity and multi-product petroleum pipelines. These decisions were taken during extensive talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Anuar Kumar Dissanayaka.
Emphasis on development and connectivity
Prime Minister Modi said that both sides have decided to emphasize investment-based development and connectivity for economic partnership. He said, “We have decided that physical, digital, energy connectivity will be the main pillars of our cooperation.” Modi said work will be done to establish power grid connectivity and multi-product petroleum pipelines between the two countries and Liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be supplied to Sri Lanka’s power plants.
Ferry service will start between Rameshwaram and Talaimanar
Prime Minister Modi also announced that a ferry service will be started between Rameshwaram and Talaimanar to improve connectivity between the two countries. Modi said, “We both agree that our security interests are interconnected.” We have decided to finalize the defense cooperation agreement soon. An agreement has also been reached for cooperation on ‘hydrography’ (water science). The controversial issue of fishermen was also discussed in the talks.
Discussion regarding fishermen
PM Modi said, “We also discussed issues related to the livelihood of fishermen. We agree that we should adopt a humanitarian approach in this matter.” Referring to the Tamil issue, he said India hopes that the Sri Lankan government will fulfill the aspirations of the community. Modi said that India has so far provided credit facility and assistance worth five billion US dollars to Sri Lanka. “We support all 25 districts of Sri Lanka and our projects are always selected based on the priorities of our partner countries,” the Prime Minister said.
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