New Delhi: The newly elected President of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is in the national capital for a high level meeting with Indian Prime Minister. He already met with External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jayashankar.
Rajapaksa will hold high level talks with Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi today. The leaders are expected to discuss about areas of cooperation and strengthening of the already existing bilateral relations.
They will also give a joint statement after their bilateral meeting. Rajapaksa will later meet with his counterpart, Ram Nath Kovind.
The External Affairs Ministry said in a statement that India is ready to work closely with the new government in Sri Lanka and expressed hope that it will fulfill the aspirations of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka.
The visit is symbolically significant as this is the Sri Lankan President’s first official overseas visit after assuming office. It is a sign that the new government in the island nation wants closer ties with India.
Rajapaksa will attend a program in New Delhi on Saturday and will return home tomorrow evening.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa former military officer and brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had won the election with a majority of 13 lakh votes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called up Gotabaya after his victory and said that he looked forward to working closely with him for deepening the close and fraternal ties between the two countries and for peace, prosperity as well as security in the region.
