S Jaishankar
S. Jaishankar to visit Sri Lanka tomorrow. What's on agenda
Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit Sri Lanka on Tuesday, when he is likely to meet the Sri Lankan leadership.
As per a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, Jaishankar will visit the neighbouring nation as the 'Special Envoy of Prime Minister'.
The statement said: "The visit underscores India’s Neighbourhood First Policy and takes place in the context of Operation Sagar Bandhu launched to address the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah."
Operation Sagar Bandhu
In the wake of Cyclone Ditwah, which has caused severe flooding, loss of life and widespread disruption across Sri Lanka, India launched Operation Sagar Bandhu on November 28 to provide urgent Search & Rescue and Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief (HADR) support to our closest maritime neighbour.
Cyclone Ditwah made landfall on 28 November before moving back over the Bay of Bengal, triggering some of the most severe flooding Sri Lanka has seen since the early 2000s.
The hardest-hit districts include Gampaha, Colombo, Puttalam and Mannar, as well as Trincomalee and Batticaloa, while deadly landslides in the central hill country have devastated Kandy, Badulla and Matale.
India-Sri Lanka relationship
India’s development cooperation with Sri Lanka stands out as one of the most important pillars of our bilateral relationship.
India’s overall credit assistance to Sri Lanka amounts to over USD 7 billion, including concessional loans, deferment of payment & swap agreements, as per the Indian Embassy in Sri Lanka's website.
India’s grant assistance to Sri Lanka currently stands at around USD 780 million, which includes completed projects worth USD 390 million, ongoing projects worth over USD 210 million, and another USD 178 million worth of projects in the pipeline.
GoI has been carrying out people-oriented development projects across the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, and cut across several sectors including infrastructure, housing, health, livelihood and rehabilitation, education, agriculture, renewable energy, railways, industrial development etc.
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