New Delhi, March 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday conveyed to visiting Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa that India will continue to stand with the friendly people of Sri Lanka. Basil Rajapaksa, who is on an official visit to New Delhi, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday afternoon at the Parliament Complex. Finance Minister Rajapaksa briefed the Prime Minister on initiatives being taken by both countries to increase bilateral economic cooperation, and conveyed his thanks for the support extended by India for the Sri Lankan economy. Prime Minister spoke about the central role that Sri Lanka occupies in India’s ‘Neighborhood First’ policy and its S.A.G.A.R (Security and Growth for all in the Region) doctrine. He reiterated that India would continue to stand with the friendly people of Sri Lanka, an official statement said. Finance Minister Rajapaksa noted the deepening people-to-people relations between both countries, including in the cultural sphere. Prime Minister Modi pointed to the potential for increasing tourist flows, including through joint promotion of Buddhist and Ramayan tourism circuits. The sri Lankan minister also invited PM Modi to attend the much-awaited BIMSTEC or Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation summit being hosted by Sri Lanka on March 30. Sri Lankan Finance Secretary S.R. Attygalle, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda, and India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay accompanied Basil Rajapaksa at the meeting. Separately, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla called on the Sri Lankan minister. The two sides discussed bilateral economic and commercial cooperation and opportunities post-pandemic. “Sri Lanka is integral to our #NeighbourhoodFirst policy. India will always be a reliable partner for Sri Lanka,” he conveyed, according to a tweet by the MEA. Basil Rajapaksa is scheduled to meet with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Deputy National Security Advisor Vikram Misri among others for high-level talks. Rajapaksa is set to seek a USD 1 billion line of credit (LoC) for his island country that is battling a financial crunch. Sri Lanka is facing an increasing risk of sovereign debt default as it has to pay over 4 billion US dollars for foreign loans in 2022 where as it only had 2.31 billion US dollars in its reserves by end February. India has agreed to provide 1.9 billion US dollars including 1 billion for imports of essential commodities, 500 million US dollars for fuel import and another 400 million US dollars as a swap. The one billion US dollar credit line is expected to be signed during Rajapaksa’s visit, which was postponed twice. UNI
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