With a 5,000-member strong police contingent on special security duty, Sri Lanka’s capital city appears all set for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival on Friday.
On the eve of his historic visit to the island — the first stand alone bilateral visit by an Indian leader in over 27 years — rows of Indian flags popped up along many Colombo roads, and posters welcomed him in Sinhala. Both Colombo and New Delhi have indicated the importance they place on the visit that Indian Foreign Ministry sources said sought to “upgrade” Indo-Lanka relations, which soured during former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s term.
Mr. Modi, in his meetings with Sri Lanka’s top leadership, is likely to take up the growing influence of China in the island, matters pertaining to devolution of powers to the country’s war-torn North and East and the fisheries conflict that has proved a major strain on Indo-Lanka ties the past few years, sources said.
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Mr. Modi’s is the fourth high-level visit between the countries, since the new dispensation in Colombo took charge after the country’s January presidential polls that saw President Maithripala Sirisena defeat his one-time comrade and former leader Mr. Rajapaksa. Among the agreements to be signed during Mr. Modi's visit are Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) pertaining to customs cooperation, youth development, visa exemptions for diplomatic passport holders and the construction of an auditorium named after Rabindranath Tagore in the southern Sinhala-majority Matara district.
He will address a special sitting in Parliament on Frid.a In addition to meeting top political leaders, Mr. Modi will also address the local business community in Colombo. He will also on Saturday visit the ancient city of Anuradhapura — many Buddhists in India and Sri Lanka believe that the sapling of the famous Bo Tree there was brought from India by Emperor Ashoka’s daughter Sanghamitra.
In the Tamil-majority Northern Province, Prime Minister Modi will lay the foundation stone for a Jaffna-based cultural centre being built with Indian assistance, in addition to flagging off the final leg of the island’s restored railway line in the north, built by IRCON.
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