COLOMBO

 External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday met Sri Lanka’s newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Colombo, and pledged India’s “full support” to the island nation’s economic recovery and growth. His discussions with the Sri Lankan leadership covered India’s security interests, the persisting fisheries conflict, as well as the pending political settlement of Sri Lanka’s Tamils, according to official statements issued by both sides.

Jaishankar, on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, extended an invitation to President Dissanayake to visit India at a mutually convenient date. President Dissanayake, too, extended an invitation to Modi to visit Sri Lanka, the President’s office said.

The visit assumes significance, coming barely a fortnight after Sri Lankans elected leftist leader Mr. Dissanayake their new President in the September 21 presidential election, the first to be held after the country’s 2022 economic crisis. Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Mr. Jaishankar was the “first high-level foreign dignitary” to visit Sri Lanka after Mr. Dissanayake assumed office.

This is Jaishankar’s second meeting with Mr. Dissanayake, after his interaction in February 2024, when the then opposition legislator was invited to New Delhi in February 2024, amid his surging popularity in Sri Lanka.

“ Jaishankar reaffirmed India’s full support for Sri Lanka’s economic rehabilitation, highlighting India’s commitment to assisting in tourism, investment, electricity, energy services, and the dairy industry. He emphasized that Sri Lanka could leverage India’s vast market to boost its economic recovery,” the Presidential Media Division said following the meeting, adding that President Dissanayake expressed his appreciation for India’s support — totalling nearly $ 4 billon — when the island nation faced a crushing financial meltdown two years ago.

In his meeting with the President, Minister Jaishankar highlighted ongoing India-backed initiatives in the field of energy production and transmission, fuel and LNG supply, solar electrification of religious places, connectivity, digital public infrastructure, health and dairy development. He highlighted that they would contribute to economic sustainability and provide new streams of revenue, the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

The readouts from neither side mentioned the controversial Adani power project in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, that is currently mired in a court battle following stiff opposition from locals and environmentalists. Mr. Dissanayake has in the past questioned its approval, outside of a tender process, and the former government’s power purchasing agreement with the company, which he contended was not in Sri Lanka’s favour. New Delhi’s statement following Friday’s meeting however said President Dissanayake referred to the “potential of export of renewable energy to India, which could help reduce production costs in Sri Lanka and create additional resources”.

Collaboration in the island’s vital tourism sector was discussed, with Mr. Jaishankar offering to expand the flow of Indian tourists, who top the scenic country’s arrival charts.

Mr. Jaishankar discussed matters of India’s security interest in the region. Across meetings, the Sri Lankan leadership assured the top Indian official that they were mindful of India’s security concerns and would allow their territory to be used in a manner inimical to India’s security interests, the statements indicated.

Tamil question

In regard to Sri Lanka’s long-pending solution to the national question, Mr. Jaishankar reiterated India’s support for “the aspirations of all communities, including Tamils, for equality, justice, dignity, peace while maintaining the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka”. The full and effective implementation of the 13th Amendment of its Constitution and the early conduct of Provincial Council elections will facilitate these objectives, the External Affairs Ministry statement said. 

Dissanayake who, according to his office, discussed “areas of mutual interest, including fisheries and promoting national unity” with Mr. Jaishankar, promised in his poll manifesto to deliver a political settlement to the Tamils through a new Constitution. His government has said efforts would begin after the parliamentary elections scheduled for November 14. Fisheries

Jaishankar also raised the concerns pertaining to Indian fishermen who are detained in Sri Lanka. “He pressed for their early release, as well as of their boats, and reconsideration of the heavy fines imposed on them,” the Indian statement said, referring to a persisting conflict affecting Tamil fishermen on either side of the Palk Strait. 

For many years now, war-affected Tamil fishermen in northern Sri Lanka have been urging their counterparts in Tamil Nadu to refrain from using the bottom-trawling fishing method that is widely known to severely deplete the marine ecosystem. However, the Indian fishermen, from Tamil Nadu’s coastal districts, are frequently arrested for fishing illegally in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, that too using the destructive fishing method. A total of 50 Indian fishermen from Mayiladuthurai, Pudukkottai and Nagapattinam were released on Friday. They would be repatriated from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu later this week, the Indian High Commission said.

Jaishankar also called on Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and leader of the oppositional Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB or United People’s Force) Sajith Premadasa.

(Meera Srinivasan is The Hindu correspondent in Colombo)

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