Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed “topical developments” during a telephone call on Saturday, an official press release said, just a week before a crucial vote on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council, where Colombo has demanded the support of New Delhi.
The call initiated by the Sri Lankan side, according to sources in the authorities, assumes significance between bilateral relations, including Colombo’s recent policy choices on major infrastructure projects, a decision to exclude India from the Colombo Port Terminal project and a Approval for sugar is included. Energy Project in North Coast, Close to Tamil Nadu Coast. New Delhi expressed its displeasure over both steps. Colombo has since offered an alternative terminal project and is in talks with the Adani Group.
There was a telephone conversation with the President @GotabayaR. We discussed issues related to our bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including in the context of COVID-19, ”PM Modi said in a tweet.
A media release issued by the Government of India stated: “The leaders reviewed the current developments and the ongoing cooperation between the two countries in bilateral and multilateral forums. They agreed to maintain regular contact between the authorities concerned, in the context of ongoing COVID-19 challenges, ”and said that PM Modi reiterated the“ importance of Sri Lanka ”to India’s‘ Neighborhood First ’policy.
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As the Human Rights Council prepares to vote on a resolution on Sri Lanka’s rights record later this month, the Rajapaksa administration friends and neighbors, currently members of the council, are counted on to back it. President Rajapaksa had earlier written to PM Modi, among other leaders, seeking a favorable vote. Reiterating Colombo’s expectation, Foreign Secretary Jayanath Katez told Morning Tidings in a recent interview that “India cannot abandon us.”
It is widely predicted that India can give its theory against the country’s specific resolutions and the growing geopolitical concerns in the strategic island nation. All the same, people familiar with the Geneva process believe that India can still play an important role in last-minute talks between council members, and possibly tip the scales.
Meanwhile, Indian High Commissioner Gopal Bagle, who was in Jaffna on Saturday, held discussions with Tamil MPs from various political parties.
Intervening in an interactive dialogue in February on a report by the United Nations High Commissioner’s Office for Human Rights, noting that Sri Lanka is “on a dangerous path towards a recurrence of serious human rights violations”, India’s Permanent Representative in Geneva gave an ambiguous Called Respect the rights of the Tamil community. Ambassador Indra Mani Pandey said, “We believe that respecting the rights of the Tamil community, including meaningful deviations, directly contributes to the unity and integrity of Sri Lanka.”
China, currently a member of the 47-member council, has assured Sri Lanka of its support.
COVID-19 and Financial Assistance
Despite how the Geneva vote goes, Colombo is facing a major economic challenge, as it prepares to pay more than $ 4 billion of its outstanding debt by next year. While Thursday’s media release stated that Mr. Modi and Mr. Rajapaksa discussed the COVID-19 challenges – the first consignment of vaccines to Sri Lanka was a gift from India – it did not make any specific mention of funding from India.
During his final call with PM Modi in May 2020, President Rajapaksa called for an additional $ 1 billion currency swap facility – the RBI extended $ 400 million – to raise foreign currency due to the epidemic. India is yet to respond. The debt freeze request made by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa a year ago is also awaiting New Delhi’s response.
Earlier this week, Sri Lanka said that China approved a 10 billion yuan ($ 1.54 billion) currency swap. In March last year, China loaned Sri Lanka an ‘immediate’ $ 500 million loan to deal with the economic stress of the novel coronavirus. Colombo has asked for a $ 700 million loan from Beijing.
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