Colombo, March 28 (Prensa Latina) The President of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, today thanked the Indian Foreign Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, for the help provided to his country, which is facing one of its worst economic crises.
Following talks between the parties, an agreement in support of Buddhist culture and heritage was signed and the Jaffna Cultural Center built by India was inaugurated, the Daily News portal noted.
Jaishankar assured the Sri Lankan president that New Delhi will continue to cooperate with the neighboring island nation, The Hindu newspaper reported.
Since January, India has provided $2.4 billion in aid through currency swaps, loan deferrals and lines of credit for essential imports to help Sri Lanka cope with the suffocating currency crisis and the shortage.
Jaishankar held a series of bilateral meetings ahead of his participation in Colombo in the seven-nation summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec), which Sri Lanka is hosting this year.
In addition to India and Sri Lanka, Bimstec is made up of Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.
Along with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Indian Foreign Minister virtually inaugurated the Jaffna Cultural Center, built with an $11 million Indian grant.
Also, Jaishankar discussed Monday with Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa on the economic situation of the island country and New Delhi’s support in the current currency crisis.
India recently announced the granting of a line of credit of one billion dollars to Sri Lanka to deal with the economic crisis and later extended another 500 million dollars to buy oil products.
rgh/abm
