The Government of India on Friday sent a 12.5-tonne gift consignment of essential medicines to Sri Lanka, as part of its ongoing COVID-19 assistance in the neighbourhood.
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High Commissioner-designate of India to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay travelled on the same flight, and will assume duty as per the stipulated health protocol, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said.
High Commissioner Baglay succeeds Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who was posted to Washington DC earlier this year. On his arrival, Mr. Baglay greeted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa over telephone on Friday. “I conveyed the Indian leadership’s greetings to them and expressed our strongest commitment to sharing our resources with our friends and partners,” he told The Hindu .
Friday’s gift consignment of medicines is the fourth to arrive in recent weeks, and underscores Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision conveyed to SAARC leaders during the March 15 video conference, the Indian mission said.