India-Sri Lanka Relations: India will help in building an energy hub in Sri Lanka, an agreement made between the two countries

India, working on several fronts regarding energy security, has proposed to make Sri Lanka a hub of renewable energy. It was agreed upon in the meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo on Friday. Sri Lanka is the third neighboring country after Bhutan and Nepal where India is pursuing the strategy of developing and sharing energy resources.

considering options in Sri Lanka

Explain that India is setting up hydropower projects in Bhutan and Nepal, while in Sri Lanka there is a plan to work on renewable energy options like wind energy, and solar energy. Jaishankar, who went on a visit to Sri Lanka, said that India is with him in this hour of trouble, and if needed, we are ready to help even by moving forward from our side. He also mentioned the help of four billion dollars last year, due to which there was a lot of help in reducing the economic crisis.

Sri Lanka thanked India

After a bilateral meeting with Jaishankar, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabri also thanked India for this help and said that only with India's cooperation have we been able to bring economic stability to some extent. From the Indian side, the Foreign Minister promised to take Sri Lanka forward in the renewable sector and talked about more investments from the Indian industry there. For this, the Government of Sri Lanka was suggested to take steps to further improve the investment climate.

talks on many issues

Along with this, the approval of business in the Indian rupee was also made necessary. Another suggestion made by the External Affairs Minister to the Sri Lankan government, which is engaged in wooing Indian tourists, is to approve Indian Rupay cards and UPI payments so that more and more tourists can visit there. He said that the decision on mutual business payments in Indian rupees would greatly benefit both countries.

Sri Lankan President invited to visit India

The External Affairs Minister also extended the invitation of PM Narendra Modi to the President of Sri Lanka to visit India soon. Later, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar met former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his younger brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa and leaders of other political parties separately. Sri Lanka is going to have general elections soon. In this context, India wants to maintain contact with every political party.

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