Reflecting growing congruence in ties, India and Sri Lanka on Tuesday held extensive talks on sticky fishermen issue, ensuring justice to Tamils and ways to deepen trade and defence engagements besides resolving to intensify cooperation in combating terror and securing the maritime neighbourhood, PTI reported.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, after their delegation level and restricted format talks, said the countries were determined to take the relationship to the next level as the two sides signed four agreements to deepen cooperation in health care and space science.

Thanking Wickremesinghe for choosing India for his first overseas trip after becoming Prime Minister for the fourth term, Modi hoped that the country will achieve "genuine reconciliation" and development so that all people including the Tamil community can live a "life of equality, justice, peace and dignity" in a united Sri Lanka.

The Prime Minister said both the countries will intensify cooperation in combating terrorism and work together for security and stability in the maritime neighbourhood.

"We recognise our closely aligned security interests and the need to remain sensitive to each other's concerns. We both reaffirmed our commitment to deepen our defence and security cooperation," he said.

Modi, who is the first Indian prime minister to make a bilateral visit to Sri Lanka after Rajiv Gandhi's trip in 1987, said Sri Lanka is India's largest partner in defence training programme and it will continue to expand cooperation in this area.

On the fishermen issue, the Prime Minister said it was agreed that fishermen's associations on both sides should continue their efforts to find a solution.

"I conveyed to him that this should be seen as a humanitarian issue that affects livelihoods. I informed him of the steps we are taking to encourage Indian fishermen to take up deep sea fishing," he said.

The issue of comprehensive economic partnership agreement between the two countries figured in the talks and the Sri Lankan Prime Minister hoped that it will be finalised by next year.

"Your (Sri Lanka's) progress is important for our two countries, South Asia and our maritime region," Modi said.

He said the relationship between the two countries touches the hearts of ordinary Indians and Sri Lankans and that both the countries have a "huge stake" in each other's success, and in stability and development in the region.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena had also chosen India as his first overseas destination after being elected to office in January.

(With inputs from PTI)

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday said the relationship between India and Sri Lanka can reach newer heights.

At a media briefing in New Delhi, Wickremesinghe said he held discussions with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi over a host of issues, such as their programme of creating one million jobs over the next five years.

He said the issue of fishermen from India and Sri Lanka who often cross into each others territory was discussed and it will be concluded in a time-bound manner.

He said tourism as an area of operation was also discussed. The Sri Lankan prime minister, who is on a three-day India visit, said that by the mid of next year they will be able to draw conclusions to the issues discussed.

Our relationship "can go to newer heights", he said.

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked Wickremesinghe for the steadfast support in Indo-Lanka relations.

(With inputs from IANS)

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called upon Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House at New Delhi a short while ago.

They were expected to discuss several important issues, including the sensitive fishermen's dispute between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan fishermen.

Wickremesinghe earlier met with India's Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. He is in his first official visit since becoming Prime Minister in January this year.

By Ram Madhav

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived in New Delhi yesterday (September 14) on a three-day bilateral visit, his first international visit after taking over as Prime Minister last month. Mr. Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) together with its allies secured a near-majority in the parliamentary election last month. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena engineered a division in the ranks of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), thus effectively isolating former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The result was the formation of a national government under the prime ministership of Mr. Wickremesinghe, with both UNP and SLFP as partners. With the two main parties coming together to form the government, the opposition space has been left to the third largest group in Parliament, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

The new dispensation is considered to be a strong votary of closer India-Sri Lanka relations. The President, the Prime Minister as well as the Leader of Opposition are all seen as friends by India. The last few years have seen a trust deficit between the two countries. Many in India suspected the Sri Lankan leadership of encouraging forces inimical to its interests in its vicinity. Unfortunately, the Rajapaksa government did precious little to alleviate India’s misgivings.

Challenges for the government

The new government in Sri Lanka has many challenges to face: the country’s economy is sagging; the United Nations Human Rights Council is going to take up a resolution on war crimes in Sri Lanka for discussion later this month — a very sensitive issue for both the Tamil and Sinhala population in the country. The government has to walk a tightrope on the issue.

It is in these circumstances that Mr. Wickremesinghe is visiting India. A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) will be one of the important issues that India would like to clinch during this visit. However, there is considerable concern about, if not vocal opposition to, the agreement in the Sri Lankan business circles. India needs to correct the perception that CEPA will only benefit the Indian side and the non-tariff barriers in India will be an obstacle to Sri Lankan businessmen.

The other perception problem that India needs to address is that it doesn’t walk the talk on big-ticket projects. The Sampur coal-fired power plant is one such project which has lingered for more than a decade. The delay in its implementation has led to several new problems. Its revival is mired in land and environment-related controversies. Within the 500-acre power plant area, there are around 30 Tamil families who have been living for many years. They have to be rehabilitated elsewhere with proper compensation. In addition, more than a thousand Tamil families, who have been additionally settled just on the periphery, may also raise objections to the project coming up. Some of them have lands inside the power plant area. Environmentalists are also opposed to the power plant. They might go to court. While India may argue that it has technologies that address pollution concerns, these issues have the potential to get entangled in legal problems.

Another issue which is more than a decade old, on which India has not made much progress, is that of oil tank farms on the east coast. These British vintage storage farms give India enormous scope for oil trade in the whole of South East Asia. India should quickly operationalise these oil tank farms. It must not forget that the previous government in Colombo had offered them to the Americans. It should start negotiations for setting up a refinery in Trinco area to treat crude oil.

India’s strategic and economic priority should be to develop the east coast of Sri Lanka, especially the Trincomalee-Batticaloa belt. The Trinco belt has an enormous potential for trade, tourism, industry and commerce. It has vast stretches of virgin beaches. The Trinco port can be developed into a major port. A new airport can be developed in the area and can be connected directly with Tamil Nadu for the benefit of the Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Most importantly, by entering Trinco coast, India will be making a big presence in the trade routes of the Indian Ocean.

There are a couple of contentious issues on which India and Sri Lanka might have to be cautious. The Tamils of the north and east must be complimented for their overwhelming support to the TNA in the parliamentary elections that has helped the party secure 16 seats. TNA leader R. Sampanthan has become the Leader of the Opposition. TNA fought the elections on the principle of greater constitutional rights to Tamils for just and honourable place in the Sri Lanka constitutional mechanism. The radical elements have been rejected by the Tamil voters there. The Sri Lankan government should gratefully acknowledge this huge contribution of the TNA and move forward with specific steps to address the Tamil issue. Granting more constitutional powers to the provinces is the first important step.

The UNHRC resolution on war crimes is another important issue on which both the countries have to reach an understanding. Sri Lanka can gain from the expertise available in countries like the U.S., India, and so on, to facilitate a credible investigation by its agencies. It is important for justice to be seen by the Tamils and the international community to be delivered.

Dispute over fishing

Another contentious issue that defies any immediate answers is that of fishermen. The historic waters between India and Sri Lanka have become a battleground between the Tamil fishermen on both sides, leading to frequent clashes, incarcerations, and even deaths. A negotiated solution needs to be found on this issue. Pending the dispute over fishing, the adverse ecological impact of bottom trawling must also be addressed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Colombo early this year raised the hopes in that country of a stable and reliable friendship. Lakshman Kadirgamar, former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka and a great friend of India, had once described India-Sri Lanka relations as “irreversible excellence”. Centuries-old cultural and religious ties make the relationship irreversible. But the challenge is to make it ‘excellent’. It is too important a relationship to be left to the officials alone. Sri Lanka requires political handling.

*Ram Madhav is National General Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party, and Director, India Foundation.

(The Hindu)

In his first overseas trip after assuming the top office for the fourth term, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived in New Delhi today on a three-day visit during which he will hold extensive talks with the Indian leadership including on the sensitive fishermen issue.

He was received at the airport by Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

He will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow during which both leaders are expected to explore ways to further boost bilateral ties besides discussing the fishermen issue.

The proposed comprehensive economic partnership agreement between the two countries and the Tamil ethnic issue are likely to figure in the talks.

Wickremesinghe, who was sworn in as Sri Lanka's prime minister for the fourth time last month following his party's victory in the parliamentary polls, will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will also meet the Sri Lankan Prime Minister.

The visit assumes significance as President Maithripala Sirisena also chose India to be his first overseas destination after being elected to office in January.

66-year-old Wickremesinghe was picked by President Sirisena, who handed a shock defeat to Mahinda Rajapaksa in the polls, to lead a minority government in January till the parliamentary elections last month.

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is expected to be part of the talks agenda. Prime Minister Modi, during his visit to Sri Lanka in March, had said both countries should move boldly to conclude the pact and attract investments.

(PTI)

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe begins his official visit to India today.

This will be his first official visit outside the country after being appointed Prime Minister this January.

He is expected to meet President of India Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders.

The Prime Minister will be accompanied by Minister Malik Samarawickrama, Secretary to the PM Saman Ekanayake, Additional Secretary to the PM Saman Athaudahetti, Sri Lanka's Indian High Commissioner designate Esala Weerakoon and the Prime Minister's wife Maitree Wickremesinghe.

The government today rejected allegations that the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be finalizing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with India during his visit to the country.

In a statement, Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama, said that certain politicians are trying to score political mileage by such baseless allegations.

The minister pointed out that many aspects have to be considered before signing such an important agreement. Such agreements will be signed covering a broader scope and after considering the needs of the country, he further said, pointing out that in the past certain agreements were signed without such consideration.

Former Minister Rosy Senanayake was appointed as the Prime Minister's Spokesperson and the Deputy Head of the Prime Minister's Office.

Senanayake contested the recent General Election from Colombo District but failed to enter the Parliament.

She ended up at the 12th place in the UNP preferential votes list. Only 11 UNP candidates were elected from the district.

Senanayake requested a recount, alleging that an error in counting could have taken place.

The Sri Lankan cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal made by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera to sign a bilateral agreement with India on the use of the SAARC satellite proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Lanka expects the agreement to be signed during the bilateral talks to be held during the visit of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to New Delhi next week. Wickremesinghe will be in the Indian capital from September 14 to 16.

At the 18th SAARC summit held in Kathmandu in November 2014, the assembled Heads of State and Government welcomed, in principle, the offer by India to develop and launch a SAARC satellite. The satellite will be planned, processed and launched by India as a donation to the SAARC countries and it would be located in Eastern Longitude 48.

India expects to enter into bilateral agreements with each country on the Orbit Frequency Coordination of the proposed satellite.

(The New Indian Express)

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled to visit India between 14 and 16 September.

This is his first official visit abroad since he was appointed Prime Minister in January by the new President Maithripala Sirisena. That Wickremesinghe – like Sirisena in February – chose Delhi as the destination of his first state visit should reassure India of the priority it enjoys in the Sri Lankan government’s foreign policy agenda.

Wickremesinghe can expect a warm welcome in Delhi.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe team is “more trustworthy” than the Rajapaksa regime, an official in India’s Ministry of External Affairs said, drawing attention to their attempt over the past eight months to “restore balance” in Sri Lanka’s foreign policy, which had assumed a “pronounced pro-China tilt” during the Mahinda Rajapaksa presidency.

Relations between India and Sri Lanka deteriorated during Rajapaksa’s second term (2010-Jan 2015) over his government’s reluctance to initiate a meaningful reconciliation with the island’s alienated Tamils and the Sri Lankan navy’s detention of hundreds of Tamil Nadu fishermen straying into Sri Lankan waters.

India was also concerned over China’s growing role in the Sri Lankan economy; Delhi feared that Sri Lanka’s mounting indebtedness to China would result in the latter securing for itself a military presence in the island. Such anxieties became real in September-October 2014 when Chinese submarines docked twice in Sri Lanka’s harbors despite India’s objections.

Not surprisingly, when Rajapaksa was removed from the presidency in the January presidential election, India was relieved, only to have its apprehensions return a few months later when the ousted president sought to return to power as prime minister via the August general election. His failed attempt evoked relief in India’s Foreign Office.

The India-Sri Lanka relationship, which was “reset” in the wake of Rajapaksa’s ouster, is expected to improve further now, the MEA official said.

Among the issues the Indian government is expected to raise during Wickremesinghe’s visit are the fishermen conflict, the need for Colombo to “pursue assiduously” a solution to grievances of the island’s Tamils, the long-pending Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and Sri Lanka’s relations with China.

On the fishermen’s issue, although Wickremesinghe had talked tough in March, warning Indian fishermen that they could expect to get shot if they entered Sri Lankan waters, in effect, his government has not been as harsh in its treatment of them as the previous government. Apparently, in recent months, the arrested Indian fishermen were not detained for long, prompting Delhi to believe that the Sri Lankan prime minister will be “reasonable” on the problem.

On CEPA too, India is optimistic. Wickremesinghe is a strong votary of the agreement.

It is on the question of China’s role in Sri Lanka that the two sides are unlikely to see eye-to-eye. While the Wickremesinghe government may avoid provoking India by allowing Chinese naval vessels to dock in its ports, it may not go far enough to please Delhi with regard to diluting ties with China.

India is keen on Sri Lanka cancelling Chinese infrastructure projects in the island especially the US$1.4 billion Colombo Port City (CPC) project, which it argues has implications for its security.

On becoming president, Sirisena suspended the CPC project pending an investigation. However, the project is likely to be revived in the coming months. Unlike India, Sri Lanka is not as bothered over Chinese investment in the island. Indeed it welcomes it as it needs investment in its infrastructure sector.

The main concern of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe team is the unfavorable terms of contracts and the opaque manner in which they were finalized by the Rajapaksa government. Should the Chinese address issues such as environmental concerns, overpricing of projects, high rates of interest etc., with regard to the CPC project and other projects, the Sri Lankan government would not be averse to reviving suspended projects or even negotiating new ones.

However, the Sri Lankan government would do well to avoid excessive dependence on China. This is not a big challenge for Wickremesinghe.

Unlike Rajapaksa, who thumbed his nose at much of the international community and especially the West, Wickremesinghe is pro-West and could attract investment from an array of countries including Japan and the US. Diversifying sources of investment would go a long way in reducing Sri Lanka’s dependence on China.

That would calm Delhi’s nerves as well.

By Dr. Sudha Ramachandran

(Asia Times)