Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be visiting Sri Lanka this week and call on newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who assumed office on September 23.
His visit to Colombo would be the first by any foreign minister after the presidential elections last month.
Jaishankar’s visit to the neighbouring island nation, which is expected to begin on October 4, will be closely watched as it will include high-level engagement between India and Sri Lanka after Dissanayake came to power.
India’s high commissioner to Sri Lanka, Santosh Jha, was the first foreign diplomat to call on Dissanayake after the outcome of the 2024 Sri Lanka was announced.
The Sri Lanka visit of the Jaishankar will be a significant opportunity for India to reinforce its commitment to providing development support for its strategically situated Indian Ocean neighbour, amid worries about a shift in its foreign policy under the Marxist president.
Through Jaishankar’s Sri Lanka visit, the Indian government is also hoping to build on its outreach to Dissanayake in the past 12 months that witnessed him visiting New Delhi earlier this year, setting aside reservations over his party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s (JVP) deep and longstanding resentment against India.
During his Delhi visit, Dissanayake held talks with Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval. (First Post)