Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday sought the support of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for Indian investors keen to participate in that country’s economic development, especially in the infrastructure, energy and transport sectors.

Wickremesinghe is on a three-day official visit to India, his first overseas after assuming office.

Speaking to the media after talks with the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Modi said both leaders wanted deeper economic engagement.

“We would like to see our trade grow and become more balanced for Sri Lanka. We discussed how we can achieve these goals in a more open and competitive Indian market, including through bilateral arrangements for trade and investments,” Modi said, adding that both sides welcomed some significant developments in bilateral relations since March, including a currency swap arrangement.

“We also expressed hope that progress on key bilateral initiatives and projects will gather speed now,” he said.  

During the talks the Prime Minister assured Wickremesinghe of India’s continuing commitment to the developing partnership in infrastructure, railways, energy, community development projects, agriculture, capacity building, science and technology, space and the civil nuclear field.   

Indian support “I offered India’s full support to strengthen connectivity between our two countries to deepen human and economic links that will benefit all sections of our societies,” Modi said.

Addressing the media, Wickremesinghe said that his government was in a unique position as it has a mandate from the people to continue trade and investment ties with India.

“We hope that this will lead to the next step where the private sector from both sides could cooperate. We have been talking about these issues for a very long time. So, we think that by the end of this year the two sides should at least come to an agreement in principle and certainly by mid-next year we should have the agreement in place,” he said.

The Sri Lankan Prime Minister said that economic cooperation between India and Sri Lanka is nothing new and had been in place for over 2,500 years.

Stating that the two leaders had long discussions on different areas, Wickremesinghe said that he had briefed Modi and the Foreign Minister on his country’s discussions with the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, adding that a favourable outcome will lead to settlement of issues and reconciliation, with all Sri Lankans treated equally.

He added that the two leaders had also discussed the issue of fisheries in the Palk Straits and the need for fishermen from both sides to have discussions and hopefully conclude them in a time-bound framework.

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