India has strengthened its role as a key development partner for Sri Lanka, providing grant assistance totaling $780 million, according to Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Santosh Jha.
Speaking to reporters in Colombo while giving an update on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s visit to India last month, High Commissioner Jha outlined the details of India’s contributions. Completed projects account for $390 million, with ongoing projects valued at $211 million and $180 million committed to upcoming initiatives. Additionally, $391 million in new assistance was announced to bolster bilateral ties.
High Commissioner Jha said Indian grants position the country as Sri Lanka’s principal development partner.
Sri Lanka remains one of the largest recipients of India’s development aid. In a significant move, India converted over $100 million in loans into grants, offering critical fiscal relief to its neighbor.
Press Interaction (On-record)
Opening Remarks by High Commissioner
(07 January 2025)
Thank you all for joining. Let me begin by wishing you all a very happy new year.
We open this year being extremely positive and buoyant on the India-Sri Lanka partnership. This bullishness is, ofcourse, derived from a just-concluded excellent year for our bilateral ties.
2024 was marked by frequent high level political exchanges. We saw in the last year, two outgoing VVIP visits, two incoming visits by the Indian External Affairs Minister and one by the National Security Advisor.
If we look back at 2024, one cannot miss the increasing maturity of the India-Sri Lanka relationship. The merits of the partnership have bipartisan consensus in both the countries. Across party lines, there is a broad agreement on the fact that a deeper India-Sri Lanka relationship across economic, development, security and cultural domains is in the interest of both our peoples. That is the big win for the relationship over the last year.
The highlight of the year has to be the very successful State Visit of President Anura Kumara Disanayaka to India from 15-17th of the last month. You would have followed the visit closely. The visit was rich in both its ceremonial optics as well as its ambitious deliverables.
During the 3-day visit last December, President Disanayaka, accompanied by Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath and the Deputy Minister for Economic Development Anil Jayantha Fernando had a series of engagements with the leadership, business andmedia community in New Delhi, as well as visited Bodh Gaya. It was his first visit to any foreign country in his capacity as the President. He had been to India before in February 2024 under the ICCR Distinguished Visitors Program.
Let me take you through the elements of the State Visit of the President. Shortly after the President’s arrival in New Delhi, the External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Sri Ajit Doval and Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman called on the President. Next morning, the official engagements began with a ceremonial welcome in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan by the Honorable President and the Prime Minister.
Subsequently, the President went to Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi. And this was followed by talks in Hyderabad House between the President and Prime Minister. There were sessions of restricted talks and then delegation-level talks. The Prime Minister hosted a banquet lunch. The Vice President also called on the President. The President met Rashtrapatiji at Rashtrapati Bhavan who hosted a banquet dinner in honor of the President. In the evening before the meeting with Rashtraptiji, he chaired a business roundtable with top Indian CEOs in the sectors of IT, Startup Ecosystem, Renewable Energy, Agriculture, Textiles, etc. The Commerce and Industries Minister of India Shri Piyush Goyal accompanied the President in the business interactions. The Health Minister of India, Shri JP Nadda also called on the President.
Next day he visited Bodh Gaya, a place of utmost significance for Buddhism as well as for our civilizational and spiritual ties. In another interesting element, he visited a Jan Aushadi Kendra in New Delhi and was visibly impressed with the affordability and accessibility of medical care.
The visit components were wide-ranging and holistic, just as the outcomes. You all must have seen the Joint Statement ‘Fostering Partnerships for a Shared Future’. The statementprovides a framework to strengthen the comprehensive bilateral partnership across several sectors, and these sectors include Parliamentary Exchanges, Development Cooperation, Debt Restructuring, Energy Cooperation, Trade and Investment Cooperation, Strategic and Defence Engagement, issues related to fishermen, among others.
It is meant to provide guidance for the relationship that is future-oriented and at the same time people-centric. The document also aims to bring together the several ways in which India can support Sri Lanka’s economic recovery and have the partnership deliver prosperity for people in both countries.
These included continuing deliberations on energy projects like supply of LNG from India to Sri Lanka; High-capacity power grid interconnection; India-Sri Lanka Multi-product pipeline implemented by India, Sri Lanka and UAE; Joint development of offshore wind power potential in Palk Straits, while prioritizing environmental protection, and Development of Trincomalee as a regional energy and industrial hub. It was decided to implement the Sampur Solar project. Given that India continues to be Sri Lanka’s leading trade and investment partner, it was also agreed to take the conversation on the Economic & Technological Cooperation Agreement forward.
Besides the go-ahead for continued conversation for these long-term projects, let me also quickly mention some of theinitiatives that were finalized during the visit. We announced grant assistance of USD 14.9 million to undertake a Signaling System in the Maho-Anuradhapura segment of Sri Lankan railways, thereby furthering, deepening our cooperation on the infrastructure-related front. This project while earlier envisioned under loan-financed assistance was converted to grant from the Government of India to ease Sri Lanka’s debt burden.
In addition to the already extensive scholarship programs that we offer in Sri Lanka, we announced a comprehensive scholarship program for 100 students each from economically disadvantaged sections in University of Jaffna and Eastern University, Batticaloa. The scholarship is intended to take care of the needs of the students for the entire duration of their studies. Similarly, an MOU was exchanged to train 1500 Sri Lankan civil service officers in India over a period of five years. This was signed between the National Centre for Good Governance in India and the Sri Lankan Institute for Development Administration.
In line with the Sri Lankan government’s emphasis on transforming governance through digitization, both leaders agreed to expedite the implementation of the India-funded grant project of Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity that will support Sri Lanka in setting up its own foundational digital ID program and platform, much like India’s Aadhaar. You are well aware that UPI services were launched in Sri Lanka for the use of Indian tourists in February 2024.It was recognized on both sides to enhance the use of UPI to increase tourism from India in Sri Lanka.
An MOU to amend the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement was also exchanged during the visit – in order to bring the DTA in line with international standards on prevention of tax treaty abuse.
The issue of fishermen is a particularly important one for both countries.The leaders had extensive discussions on this issue and agreed that issues related to fishermen must be dealt with through a humane and humanitarian perspective. These are issues related to livelihood and it was agreed that the use of force must be avoided in all situations.
The two leaders also had a detailed conversation on promoting reconciliation in Sri Lanka. Prime Minister urged President Disanayaka for a full and effective implementation of the Sri Lankan Constitution for meaningful devolution and for holding Provincial Council elections at the earliest.
The engagements and the conversations between the leadership deepened mutual understanding of each other’s interests, sensitivities and concerns, adding to the mutual trust and goodwill at the political level.
Friends,
As you all know, Sri Lanka is India’s closest maritime neighbor and has been an integral part of India’s Neighborhood First Policy and India’s Vision SAGAR. The two countries are civilizational partners with a uniquely fraternal relationship. India has time and again demonstrated that it is a dependable partner and a reliable friend for Sri Lanka. Whether it is natural disasters, mishaps at sea, the COVID pandemic or the recent economic crisis, India has come to Sri Lanka’s assistance always as the first responder.
Our support has been timely, quick and unconditional. This also demonstrates that we are a responsible and friendly neighbor of Sri Lanka. President Disanayaka expressed his appreciation to Prime Minister Modi for India’s support, especially the unprecedented assistance in the form of nearly USD 4 billion in various kinds of aid in 2022 and 2023. This was instrumental in stabilizing the situation in Sri Lanka at a critical juncture.
India also remains involved in financial stabilization effort for Sri Lanka through its engagement with the IMF, which is undertaking a program for Sri Lanka following the debt restructuring that has been agreed. India as the co-chair of the Official Creditors Committee continues to play an important role in assisting Sri Lanka through this challenging phase.
Sri Lanka is also one of the largest development partners and one of the largest recipients of several capacity building initiatives.The visit of President Disanyakatook this very robust partnership even further. President Disanayaka specifically thanked India for its strategic decision to convert loans to grants in order to provide further fiscal headroom 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 KankesanthuraiHarbor in the Northern Province with total grant assistance of Indiato the tune of USD 65 million. This is also something that was to be executed through a lineofcredit, but will now be executed through a grant. Along with USD 14.9 millionfor the Maho-Anuradhapura Railway Signaling Project that I mentioned earlier, more than 100 million USD of loans have been converted by India into grants.
This conversion of loans to grants was also discussed in the Sri Lankan Parliament, on the return of the President, with much appreciation.
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 millionand 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 guidance from the visit has added a renewed vigor to the partnership. In the limited 2-3 weeks after the visit, you’ve seen the Sri Lankan Cabinet having approved the MoU on cooperation for sharing successful digital solutions implemented fordigital transformation in India, the Indian grant of LKR 300 million to cater to the vehiclerequirements of Sri Lanka Police, another grant of LKR 290 million to rehabilitate the Karainagar boatyard in the Northern Province, and import of highquality cattle to improve milk production. We also expect to soon sign the MoU for implementation of 33 socio-economic development projects in the Eastern Province with anIndian grant assistance of over LKR 2.3 billion.
I would say that the previous year of engagements, particularly during the visit of President Disanayaka to India and the Joint Statementthereof have put the India-Sri Lanka relationship on a higher plane. Quoting from my Prime Minister’s press statement, “We have adopted a futuristic vision for our partnership. We have laid emphasis on investment-led growth and connectivity in our economic partnership. And have decided that physical, digital and energy connectivity shall be the key pillars of our partnership.” In thenew year, we look forward to translating this shared intent of our leaders into conclusive outcomes for the benefit of the peoples of India and Sri Lanka.
Let me also add that President Disanayakaextended an invitation to Prime Minister Modi to visit Sri Lanka.The Prime Minister accepted the invitation. We are in the process of working out a propitious timing for the visit, and will keep you posted on the same.
Let me stop there and I’ll try and answer any questions that you might have.
Thank you.