Although there were plans to meet to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the recent visits of Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa , He missed the opportunity too meet the PM as expected diplomatic sources told to Lankasara.
Basil Rajapaksa, who left for India on the 30th, was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 2nd.
However, it is reported that although the Indian Prime Minister was ready to meet Sri Lankan visitnig minister he could not make it due to heavy schedule of including the meetings of the visiting Russian Prime Minister.
However Basil Rajapaksa was able to meet twice the Finance Minister of India Nirmala Seethalraman and Foreign Minister J Jayashankar together and have lengthy discussion about the issues.
Earlier in the day, a discussion was held between the Indian Minister of Finance and the Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka and Indian Foreign Minister Jayashankar was also present.
In addition to the Indian authorities, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance SR Attygalle and Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda also participated in the discussion, which also discussed India’s current support for Sri Lanka.
Ms. Nirmala Seetharaman and the Indian Foreign Minister pledged to the Minister of Finance that they were well aware of the plight of Sri Lanka and that they would give priority to Sri Lanka in dealing with its neighbors.
However, due to the busy schedule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he has made arrangements to meet Indian National Security Adviser Ajith Doval on his behalf.
It is said that the two countries discussed matters pertaining to the Indian National Security Adviser and on the same day again the Indian Minister of Finance and the Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka made preliminary plans regarding the economic assistance to be provided to Sri Lanka.
Energy, foreign reserves deficit, import of essential food and medicine as well as investment from India were also discussed at the meeting.
The Indian External Affairs Minister was also present at the discussions and a special feature was that Mr. Rajapaksa, as the Minister of Finance, had two consecutive two-day discussions with the Indian External Affairs Minister and the Finance Minister.
