Sri Lankan PM Harini Amarasuriya's maiden India visit focuses on strengthening bilateral ties and investments

SRI Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya returned to her alma mater in India on Thursday, as she visited Delhi University’s most prestigious Hindu College as an alumnus. 

Her day-long visit to the college was filled with celebrations, cultural performances and long interactions, while sharing a deep bond between India and Sri Lanka. As a student of the Sociology department, Amarsuriya recalled her days in college 30 years ago, her classrooms and the north campus in the college. 

This being her maiden visit to India after assuming charge as Sri Lanka's prime minister, Harini’s meetings with the top leaders will be on the lines of Sri Lanka’s India-first policy.

According to highly placed sources, she will discuss in depth on attracting Indian investments to Sri Lanka. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that her visit “will further strengthen the bonds of friendship, reinforced by India’s MAHASAGAR vision and its neighbourhood first policy.”

Harini’s visit is also on the lines of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries and deep and multifaceted bilateral ties, according to MEA.

Amarasuriya, who is also Sri Lanka’s education minister, will visit IIT-Delhi and NITI Aayog to explore avenues of collaboration in education and technology.

“This will be my first official visit to India as the prime minister of Sri Lanka. India and Sri Lanka are bound together by history, culture and shared values. Our relationship is one of great depth and importance, and I look forward to using this opportunity to strengthen our cooperation in every sphere, such as trade, investment, education, development and beyond.”

Sources in Sri Lanka say that Harini will have a friendly conversation with all the stakeholders in India to take home investments in various sectors, including power, education, infrastructure and many more. 

Her visit comes exactly six months after Prime Minister Modi signed several important MoUs to strengthen the bilateral relationship between India and Sri Lanka in the areas of defence, maritime and other key sectors. 

Though she is in Delhi to participate in NDTV’s World Summit, Amarasuriya will call on External Affairs Minister C.Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Her meetings with the external affairs minister and the prime minister assume significance as she has arrived in Delhi after her three-day visit to China, which concluded on October 15. 

During her visit to Beijing, Amarasuriya attended the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women and met with the Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and China’s top political advisor Wang Huning.

During her China visit, she sounded positive on the Sri Lanka-China relations, while talking about the joint venture and collaborations between the two countries with regard to the Colombo port city, the Hambantota port and the central expressway, which are considered to be the centre of Sri Lanka’s growth strategy.

She also lauded the commitment made by Xi to gender equality and women's empowerment globally during the opening ceremony of the Global Leaders' Meeting.