India’s minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj met with Sri Lanka’s prime minister to discuss India’s investment in “housing, ports and aviation in Sri Lanka” on Monday.
Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tweeted that Ms Swaraj “highlighted India’s continued commitment to investment into housing, ports and aviation in Sri Lanka” and the two spoke on “regional relationships”.
The two met in Hanoi, where Ms Swaraj addressed the third Indian Ocean Conference.
Speaking at the conference, Ms Swaraj said,
“Looking beyond our practical, day to day cooperation, it is important to build an overarching vision for the Indian Ocean region. Prime Minister Modi recently spoke of his vision of a free and inclusive Indo-Pacific.”
“The Indian Ocean is a central component of this free and inclusive Indo-Pacific.”
“The Indian Ocean is a region where some of the largest and smallest nations of the world have coexisted in harmony. The harmony is not only because of economic or cultural commonalities, but also of ideological and civilizational commonalities.”
See the full text of her speech here.
Her visit comes as three ministries in Sri Lanka sought Cabinet approval to upgrade Palaly airport to a regional airport with flights operating to and from South India.
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