Sri Lanka President Wickremesinghe calls for deepening ties with India

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has emphasised the importance of strengthening economic cooperation and regional integration with Japan to India with a special focus on deepening ties with New Delhi as his country seeks to emerge from bankruptcyWickremesinghes comments came as he was virtually addressing the Head of State Session of the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit held under the theme An Empowered Global South for a Sustainable Future From the northcentral town of Anuradhapura yesterdayThe conference chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought together heads of state from various countriesReflecting on IndoSri Lankan relations the President emphasised the vision statement shared between the two nations which celebrates their historical cooperation and lays the foundation for future collaborationHe expressed optimism that this vision will lead to stronger integration between Sri Lanka and India across various sectorsPresident Wickremesinghe highlighted Sri Lankarsquos strategic commitment to expanding economic partnerships across Asia particularly through the Bay of Bengal Initiative for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation BIMSTECThe President noted that as the Bay of Bengal region emerges as a hub of economic growth the significance of BIMSTEC continues to riseSri Lanka as a member seeks closer economic integration with India and is exploring economic cooperation agreements extending from Japan to India his office said in a statementPresident Wickremesinghe also expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Modi and the people of India for their support during Sri Lankas recent economic crisis The President acknowledged that Indiarsquos assistance played a vital role in helping Sri Lanka navigate the challenges of the past two years and emerge from bankruptcyldquoSri Lanka thanks India for hosting the third virtual seminar on Voices of the Global South This series enables us to engage with each other to understand our different viewpoints while also helping us arrive at a common stance on many issues confronting the South he saidWe have reached a point where the West can no longer dominate global leadership and furthermore has become part of the problem Ukraine and Gaza are prime examples which I will not address as they have already been discussed by previous speakers In this context we must appreciate Indiarsquos efforts to strengthen the Global SouthrdquoDeliberating on the economic crisis Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka had reached agreements with the Official Creditor Countries the ExportImport Bank of China the International Monetary Fund the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to emerge from bankruptcyldquoAt this stage I must acknowledge the generosity of Prime Minister Modi and India whose contributions made it possible for us to survive the two years of bankruptcy which imposed a heavy burden on our people The Vision Statement agreed upon by both our countries outlines the path for closer relations emphasizing our 2000year history of cooperation This will ultimately lead to deeper integration between our nations across many sectorsrdquoSri Lanka will be finalising the Comprehensive Economic and Technological Agreement with India he saidldquoWe will also inaugurate connectivity in power transport and land and we will focus on the development of Trincomalee Harbour among other projects we have agreed upon These efforts will help us upgrade our knowledge and technology enabling us to move towards a digital economy I must express my gratitude to India for the assistance it has providedrdquoI must thank India which since its independence has worked to unite AfroAsian countries and for the role it continues to play in forging closer unity among all of us he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever