Colombo: Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the new Sri Lankan President on Thursday amid continuing agitation by anti-government protesters who rally against him for being a Rajapaksa ally and raise slogans “Go back, Ranil”.
The swearing in ceremony took place before Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya inside Parliament.
The Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that India has been at the forefront of giving assistance to Sri Lanka and it will continue to stand by the people of the country in the future.
“We have been addressing these issues at length… We have been at the forefront of extending economic assistance to Sri Lanka as per the requirement. We will continue to stand by the people of Sri Lanka in whatever manner we can,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said while addressing a media briefing.
He further said that India will stand with the people of Sri Lanka in their quest for stability, economic recovery through democratic means and values.
Bagchi was responding to a query that whether India has been currently giving any specific package to Sri Lanka.
“They have a new President and will take more steps ahead. They also have discussions with the IMF. Let’s see what happens and what’s required,” he said.
The MEA spokesperson said that India has extended assistance in various ways. “Some of it has been unitized, some has not been utilized,” he added.
Responding to a query on India’s view on Sri Lanka restoring political stability under the new president, the MEA spokesperson said, “About the election, the High Commission has put out the statement that this was a parliament process. I don’t have much to add except to emphasize that this transition happened through a constitutional framework and it is a clear and positive indicator in that way.”
India has extended unprecedented support to Sri Lanka this year with over USD 3.8 billion given to the country to come out of the economic crisis.
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said referring to the economic support extended to Sri Lanka that no other country has given this level of support. Sri Lanka has been facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades. (UNI)
Comments are closed.