(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka will take place this year, the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka – Mr. Santosh Jha has said.
Sri Lankan President – Anura Kumara Dissanayake had extended the invitation to the Indian PM during his two-day visit to New Delhi in Dec. 2024.
Speaking to journalists in Colombo Yesterday (Jan. 07), the High Commissioner said, “The Prime Minister accepted the invitation. We are in the process of working out a propitious timing for the visit.”
Speaking further, the High Commissioner also reiterated that India also remains involved in financial stabilization efforts for Sri Lanka through its engagement with the IMF. He also elaborated on the conversion of loans to grants which were extended to Sri Lanka.
“USD 20.66 million has been extended as grant assistance to settle the payments related to seven completed line-of-credit projects in Sri Lanka. Similarly, there is another important project of rehabilitation of Kankesanthurai Harbour in the Northern Province with total grant assistance of India to the tune of USD 65 million. This is also something that was to be executed through a line of credit, but will now be executed through a grant. Along with USD 14.9 million for the Maho – Anuradhapura Railway Signaling Project that I mentioned earlier, more than 100 million USD of loans have been converted by India into grants…If I can share some headline figures with you – after these new additions, India’s grant assistance to Sri Lanka stands at USD780 million. Out of these, completed projects are worth USD390 million, ongoing projects are approx. USD211 million and committed grant projects in the pipeline stand at nearly USD180 million. The total new assistance overall is USD 391 million. If you take into account value proposition of Indian grants, we should be the principal development partner of Sri Lanka,” the High Commissioner said.
