New Delhi: Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the new President of Sri Lanka, will come to India from 15 to 17 December for a state visit, which will also be his maiden visit to the country since coming to power. Apart from his meetings with the President and Prime Minister of India, he may also meet with a delegation from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), ThePrint has learnt.
“Sri Lanka is India’s closest maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and holds a central place in the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Dissanayake is slated to arrive in India Sunday evening, with a delegation including foreign minister Vijitha Herath and deputy minister of economic development Anil Jayantha Fernando, Nalinda Jayatissa, the Sri Lankan cabinet spokesperson and minister of health and mass media said Tuesday.
ThePrint has learnt that the DMK will likely consider sending a delegation to meet with Dissanayake later this weekend.
The visit by the Sri Lankan president—also popularly known as AKD—will give the two countries an opportunity to review ties following his victory on 23 September this year. Soon after, AKD’s party the National People’s Power (NPP) stormed to victory in the November parliamentary elections in the island country.
As a candidate for president in 2019, Dissanayake was able to win only three percent of the electoral votes, while his party had only three seats in the 16th Sri Lankan Parliament.
The combined victories of Dissanayake and the NPP this year means the upcoming visit gives New Delhi a chance to learn of his plans for governing the island country during his tenure.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had invited the Sri Lankan President to India during the former’s visit to the island country on 4 October.
During the Jaishankar’s visit, Dissanayake had said that Sri Lankan territory “would never be allowed to be used in a manner inimical to India’s security interests”, as a subtle jibe at China.
The previous government under Ranil Wickremesinghe had instituted a moratorium on visits by Chinese research vessels to Sri Lankan ports, a law that would end this year.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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