Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake will visit India at the invitation of the Indian government in mid-December Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said on Monday.
He will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar who became the first foreign dignitary to call on Dissanayake when he was elected President in September had extended the invitation.
Jaishankar visited Sri Lanka in October since the National People’s Power (NPP) government led by Dissanayake came to power on September 23.
Minister Herath who retained his foreign ministry portfolio in the first Cabinet of President Dissanayake after his landslide victory in the parliamentary election held last week said the new government was intent on improving Sri Lanka’s relations with the world in their bid to effect a renaissance in the island's governance.
India had then pitched in with about USD 4 billion in assistance to enable the island nation to recover from a deep economic crisis after it announced the default on over USD 51 billion in foreign loans.
Sri Lanka is India’s key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and occupies a special place in its initiatives such as ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and the ‘Neighbourhood First Policy.’
