Sri Lankan President’s State Visit to India
Both sides will look to building bridges, leaving the past behind
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s first State Visit to India between December 15 and 17 would be critical for India-Sri Lanka relations. Leaders of the two countries are looking to build bridges, leaving the past behind.
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which is the hard core of the ruling National Peoples’ Power (NPP), had, from its beginnings, taken a sharply critical view of India’s engagements with Sri Lanka, especially the India-Sri Lanka Accord of July 1983 and the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to implement it.
In fact, the JVP had fought street battles over the Accord. More pointedly, Anura Kumara Dissanayake had cut his political teeth in that very agitation.
However, Dissanayake and the JVP have undergone a metamorphosis slowly, and of late, radically. Ahead of the 2024 Presidential election, the JVP formed a broader alliance, becoming the moderate, centrist, and more accommodative National Peoples’ Power (NPP). Its leader and election mascot, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, also acquired a persona not associated with a leader of the left-revolutionary JVP.
He reached out to the corporate sector, the Tamil minority, and also the “international community” represented by the Western powers and led by the US. Anti-India rhetoric, a staple in the JVP’s past pronouncements, became conspicuous by its absence.
Hostile forces
This was heart-warming for India, which had a lurking apprehension of an anti-Indian and pro-Chinese party gaining the upper hand in Sri Lanka, a country to which its southern flank is exposed to both infiltration and even an attack by hostile forces.
Having seen the welcome accorded to the new-look JVP in the form of the NPP by the people of Sri Lanka in the Presidential election, India became the first country to send its External Affairs Minister to meet President Dissanayake and lay the foundation for a sound relationship. Minister S. Jaishankar met Dissanayake and issued a statement that was to be the blueprint for a strong relationship.
A statement dated October 4 issued from New Delhi said that in Jaishankar’s discussions with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, he conveyed India’s strong commitment to advancing bilateral cooperation based on its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and the “SAGAR” outlook. SAGAR is the acronym for “Security and Growth for All in the Region.”
Jaishankar assured Herath that India’s ongoing development assistance to Sri Lanka “through projects of Sri Lankan priority” would be continued. He emphasised that India had offered to modernise the Kankesanthurai port in Jaffna through a grant of US$ 61.5 million. He also said that payments for seven completed Line of Credit projects to the tune of US$ 20 million could be converted into grants. India also decided to gift 22 diesel locomotives to the Sri Lankan Railways.
In his meeting with President Dissanayake, Jaishankar spoke about ongoing 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.
On his part, the Sri Lankan President said that India’s economic support is critical to realizing his vision of a prosperous Sri Lanka and for meeting the aspirations of the people. He referred to the potential for the export of renewable energy to India, which could help reduce production costs in Sri Lanka and create additional resources.
Capacity-building requirements
President Dissanayake also noted the contribution of Indian tourists to Sri Lanka’s economy and recognized that this has the potential to grow further.
The Indian External Affairs Minister’s conversation with the Sri Lankan leadership also covered facilitation of Indian investments and job creation in Sri Lanka, as well as expanding the flow of Indian tourists. In his meeting with Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, he underlined that the Government of India was prepared to respond to the training and capacity-building requirements of Sri Lanka.
On the critical issue of Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring efforts, Jaishankar recalled that India had been supportive of Sri Lanka’s economic stability and recovery from the very start. India was the first country to give financing assurances, which enabled the IMF to finalise the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). He confirmed India’s support in the Official Creditors’ Committee in respect of Sri Lanka’s agreement with International Sovereign Bond holders.
Regarding security and defence, the meetings brought out that the interests of India and Sri Lanka were closely intertwined. The importance of a continuous dialogue that would promote trust, transparency, and mutual sensitivity was recognized. The President of Sri Lanka reiterated that Sri Lankan territory would never be allowed to be used in a manner inimical to India’s security interests.
Dr. Jaishankar raised 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. He appreciated the release of 50 Indian fishermen on the day he came to Colombo.
With regard to the ethnic issue and the reconciliation process, Jaishankar reiterated India’s support for the aspirations of all communities, including Tamils, for equality, justice, dignity, and 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 holding of Provincial Council elections will facilitate these objectives, he said.
Land connectivity
India has been keen on a road link with Sri Lanka from Rameswaram to the Colombo and Trincomalee ports with a bridge over the Palk Strait. But successive Sri Lankan Governments have been wary about any land connectivity.
In October, Sri Lanka’s Environment Secretary, B. K. Prabath Chandrakeerthi, was quoted by the New Delhi daily Mint as saying that he had participated in a meeting with Indian officials in New Delhi, and that the two countries were going to build a highway and railway line connecting Rameswaram in India with Trincomalee in Sri Lanka. But later, the media secretary for the Sri Lankan Transport Ministry denied any knowledge of the said discussions.
One of the projects in which India is keenly interested is the Colombo Port’s West Terminal, which is being executed by the Adani Ports in a joint venture with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). Sri Lanka is also equally interested in it as it will help solve the problem of congestion in the Colombo port.
Recently, the Adanis decided not to avail of a US$ 553 million loan for the terminal from an American funding agency, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). The company said it has withdrawn its 2023 request for financing as it will rely on its own internal accruals.
Sri Lanka has welcomed the Adani’s commitment to the project. “It is crucial for Adani to commence operations as the project is anticipated to make a substantial contribution to Sri Lanka’s economy,” Minister of Ports Bimal Rathnayake said.
In March 2022, the then Lankan Cabinet had decided to award a tender of the value of US$ 2,600 million to Adani Green Energy without competitive bidding. The power purchase rate was fixed at US cents 8.26 per kWh for 20 years. But critics pointed out that the purchase price for a kWh unit offered by local companies generated from much smaller wind power projects was half that price.
Saudi Arabia had signed an agreement with a Japanese consortium to purchase wind power at a cost of US cents 1.56558 per kWh unit. A comparison of these global prices with the price offered by Adani Green Energy to Sri Lanka, US cents 8.26, left room for suspicion that corruption was involved, critics said.
It is not clear if President Dissanayake would implement his election promise to review the Mannar project or if he would raise the matter of pricing in his talks with Indian leaders in New Delhi.