Colombo (TDI): Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake rolled out the red carpet on Saturday for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as Colombo balances relations with India and China.
Dissanayake welcomed Modi the first foreign dignitary to visit Colombo since the leftist leader swept elections last year — with a 19-gun salute.
Both leaders are likely to ink deals on energy, defense and health, but the trip’s highlight will be the launch of an Indian-backed 120 megawatt solar power project.
The solar plant on Sri Lanka’s northeastern Trincomalee district had been stalled for years, but reinvigorated with India’s support as a joint project.
Modi, who appreciated his “spectacular welcome” to Sri Lanka after arriving in Colombo late on Friday evening, was given an honour guard parade in the capital’s Independence Square.
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Dissanayake’s first foreign visit was to India in December, but he followed that with a trip to China in January, highlighting Sri Lanka’s delicate balancing act.
China was the first to restructure its loans to Sri Lanka, a move that cleared the way for the country to emerge from the worst-ever economic meltdown in 2022.
Colombo also inked a deal announced in January with a Chinese state-owned company to invest $3.7 billion on an oil refinery in the country’s south.
It would be Sri Lanka’s largest single foreign investment and is considered as crucial for the island’s economy.
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Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka comes after a summit in Thailand and a series of meetings with leaders of regional countries as he sought to shore up India’s ties with neighbours.
On the margins of the Bangkok BIMSTEC meeting — the grouping of the 7 countries on the Bay of Bengal — Modi held a rare face-to-face meeting with Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
Modi also held a meeting with the interim leader of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, the first such talks since a revolution in Dhaka ousted Sheikh Hasina and soured ties with India.
