Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe to visit India this week

 Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe will visit India on Friday and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Indian counterpart Droupadi Murmu.

It is the first visit of Wickremesinghe to India since he took up the role of President.

During his visit, President Wickremesinghe will meet his Indian counterpart and hold discussions with the Prime Minister and other Indian dignitaries on various issues of mutual interest, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Wickremesinghe will undertake an official visit to India at the invitation of PM Modi.

The visit will reinforce the longstanding friendship between the two countries and explore avenues for enhanced connectivity and mutually beneficial cooperation across sectors.

Earlier, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra visited Sri Lanka Wickremesinghe's scheduled visit to India.

Kwatra arrived in Sri Lanka on July 10 night on a two-day official visit to take stock of several Indian projects and prepare the ground for Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe's trip to India next week.

During his visit, he met Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry and his Sri Lankan counterpart Aruni Wijewardane.

"Foreign Secretary @AWijewardane met her Indian counterpart @AmbVMKwatra this morning (11/7) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Indian Foreign Secretary is currently on a visit to #SriLanka," the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka said in a tweet.

India, under its 'Neighbourhood First' policy, has always come forward to help debt-ridden Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is an important partner in India’s Neighbourhood First Policy and Vision SAGAR.

The island nation plunged into a financial crisis after the Covid-19 pandemic affected tourism, which is considered the country's economic backbone, and remittances from citizens working abroad fell. The war in Ukraine escalated the crisis as prices for imports, particularly fuel, rose sharply due to soaring inflation. And in such a situation, India offered its help to the debt-ridden country.

Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves. (ANI)