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Colombo:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa will maintain a digital summit on September 26 throughout which the 2 leaders would focus on the whole gamut of bilateral relations, together with defence and safety points, the international ministry right here has introduced.
The summit is being held on the initiative of Prime Minister Modi who had a telephonic dialog with the newly-appointed Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on August 6 this yr, the ministry stated in a press release.
“Looking forward to interacting with PM @narendramodi at the virtual summit scheduled for 26th September. We expect to review the multifaceted bilateral relationship between our nations, ranging from politics, economics, defense, tourism, and other areas of mutual interest,” Prime Minister Rajapaksa stated in a tweet on Wednesday.
“The interaction is expected to focus on the full gamut of bilateral engagement including political, economic, finance, development, defence and security spheres, educational, tourism and cultural as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest,” the Sri Lankan international ministry stated in a press release on Wednesday.
Relevant topic ministers and senior officers of each nations will affiliate the leaders on the summit, it stated.
This is the primary digital summit-level interplay by Prime Minister Rajapaksa with a international chief since turning into Prime Minister final month, it added.
Responding to Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s remarks, PM Modi tweeted on Thursday: “Thank you, @PresRajapaksa! I too look forward to jointly reviewing our bilateral relationship comprehensively. We must explore ways to further enhance our cooperation in the post-COVID era.”
The two leaders are anticipated to deliberate on a bunch of points like methods to additional deepen anti-terror cooperation, enhance general defence and commerce ties in addition to implementation of India’s growth initiatives in Sri Lanka.
The long-pending Tamil difficulty in Sri Lanka can also be prone to determine within the talks.
India has been pitching for fulfilling the aspirations of the minority Tamil group within the island nation.
“The virtual bilateral summit will give an opportunity to the two leaders to comprehensively review the broad framework of the bilateral relationship soon after the Parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka and in the context of the time-tested friendly ties between the two countries,” the Ministry of External Affairs stated in a press release.
Prime Minister Modi visited Sri Lanka twice through the former regime of Maithripala Sirisena from 2015.
Both Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa selected India for his or her first abroad go to after successful the presidential election in November final yr.
Sri Lanka waits in anticipation of India’s motion for a debt moratorium and a further foreign money swap from India, stated the international ministry officers in Colombo.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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