Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, in December 2024.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Sri Lanka early April, Sri Lankan media has reported, ahead of an official announcement from either side confirming the visit.
According to Colombo-based publications, Mr. Modi will be in Sri Lanka during the first week of April. Apart from bilateral meetings in Colombo, Mr. Modi is expected to launch a solar power plant project in the eastern town of Sampur, in Trincomalee district, coming up as a joint venture between Ceylon Electricity Board and National Thermal Power Corporation of India.
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Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said there was no decision on the visit yet, but an official said Mr. Modi was likely to attend the regional BIMSTEC meetings in Thailand, indicating that he will transit through Colombo before or after the event.
While Sri Lanka is likely to have a high-level participation at the BIMSTEC summit, all eyes will be on interactions between PM Modi and Bangladesh Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, as well as Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, given the tensions in India’s ties with both countries in the past few months.
Mr. Modi’s Sri Lanka visit comes in response to an invitation from President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who was in New Delhi in December 2024, on his first State visit abroad months after he assumed office after winning a historic election in September 2024. Mr. Dissanayake subsequently visited China in January and the United Arab Emirates last month.
PM Modi has visited Sri Lanka thrice since 2014. He was last in the island nation in June 2019. Prior to that, he visited in 2015 and 2017. During Mr. Dissanayake’s visit in December, regional security, digital infrastructure, connectivity, energy projects and the Palk Bay fisheries conflict were among the key issues discussed by the leaders. PM Modi will be the first head of government to visit Sri Lanka after Mr. Dissanayake and his National People’s Power coalition rose to power late last year.
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Last month, Pan Yue, director of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission of China was in Sri Lanka and reportedly held talks on ethnic reconciliation and bilateral cooperation in culture and education. Neither Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry nor the Chinese Embassy in Colombo issued an official statement on the visit, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs Hiniduma Sunil Senevi posted on his social media page about a meeting with the visiting Chinese official. Mr. Pan also visited the University of Peradeniya, near Kandy, “to promote enhanced educational exchange and cooperation”, the institution said on its website.
Published – March 06, 2025 11:40 am IST
