Month: July 2023
The Ella Odyssey: 75 Years of Diplomacy
Foreign Heads of Mission on Familiarization Tour of Sri Lanka’s Hill Country
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Presidential Secretariat and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau organized the Ella Odyssey, a familiarization tour of Nuwara Eliya and Ella for foreign heads of mission in Colombo, and nine heads of mission based in New Delhi who presented credentials to President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Ella Odyssey is part of Sri Lanka’s commemoration of 75 years of independence and 75 years of diplomacy – testament to the country’s enduring engagement with the international community.
This journey to the mesmerizing ‘tea country’ in the mountains of Sri Lanka took place from 1 – 3 July 2023.
The foreign heads of mission undertook a journey on board the Viceroy Special – a vintage train reminiscent of the country’s colonial past. The diplomatic envoys forayed into the country’s cool highlands – past Kandy to Nuwara Eliya en route to Ella – to experience Sri Lanka’s verdant beauty, hospitality and adventure tucked away in the lush and misty mountainous landscapes in the country’s interior, passing along the way the gushing waters of St. Clair’s Falls, the biodiverse Knuckles Range and Pattipola, home to Sri Lanka’s highest railway station. The passengers also witnessed a railway signaling routine from the bygone era, still meticulously adhered to on the country’s tracks – the Tyer’s Tablet System.
Those on board were able to feast their eyes on the changing panorama of the scenic route, including the engineering marvel that is the Nine-Arch Bridge in Ella, a railway viaduct that was built in the 20th century, and the turbanesque Demodara Loop.
Legendary Sri Lankan hospitality awaited the travellers at the Grand Hotel in Nuwara Eliya, a national heritage building, steeped in colonial history and grandeur. The Pedro Tea Estate welcomed the visitors to a tasting of one of the world’s finest beverages – Ceylon tea.
The heads of mission also had the opportunity to call on President Wickremesinghe and First Lady Maithree Wickramasinghe at the official residence of the President in Nuwara Eliya.
Costs associated with the tour were borne by participating foreign heads of mission, and through sponsorship by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau.
The excursion to the hill country commemorates 75 years of constructive partnership with the international community and highlighted the country’s treasure trove of diverse and exciting possibilities for the travel enthusiast. It also highlighted the country’s return to stability, its excellent connectivity and open and friendly people.
Ministry of Foreign affairs
Colombo
06 July 2023
President Wickremesinghe Visits India
Promoting Connectivity, Catalysing Prosperity: India-Sri Lanka Economic Partnership Vision
Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi and the President of Sri Lanka H.E. Ranil Wickremesinghe had productive and outcome-oriented discussions during their interactions in New Delhi on 21 July 2023. The leaders acknowledged that the India-Sri Lanka partnership has been a source of strength in overcoming economic difficulties faced by Sri Lanka and the President of Sri Lanka specially appreciated India’s timely, unprecedented, and crucial support to the Government and the people of Sri Lanka.
2. Both leaders reiterated their firm commitment to, and confidence in democracy, stability and economic recovery in Sri Lanka, and stressed the significance of India’s continued support and investment for sustainable, equitable and stable growth which will benefit all segments of Sri Lankan society in all parts of the country, and also promote reconciliation.
3. The two leaders agreed that India’s sustained and rapid economic growth, and technological advancement coupled with the current phase of stabilisation and economic recovery, reconstruction and growth in Sri Lanka, provides a unique opportunity to forge a closer and deeper bilateral economic partnership between the two countries and enhance growth in the Indian Ocean Region. Further, the leaders underscored the unparalleled advantages afforded by civilizational ties, geographical proximity, cultural connect and age-old goodwill between the peoples of the two countries and reaffirmed their endeavour to harness existing synergies and complementarities in a manner that brings shared and sustainable economic prosperity.
4. To this end, the leaders underlined the cardinal importance of promoting and strengthening connectivity in all its dimensions as the key enabler. Accordingly, both leaders have decided:
I. Maritime connectivity:
a. To cooperate in development of ports and logistics infrastructure at Colombo, Trincomalee and Kankesanthurai with an aim to consolidate regional logistics and shipping, as per mutual understanding;
b. To resume passenger ferry services between Nagapattinam in India and Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka and work towards early resumption of ferry services between Rameshwaram and Talaimannar, and other mutually agreed places.
II. Air connectivity:
a. That resumption of flights between Jaffna and Chennai have enhanced people-to-people ties and agreed to further expand it to Colombo as well as explore connectivity between Chennai and Trincomalee, Batticaloa and other destinations in Sri Lanka;
b. To encourage and strengthen investment and cooperation in civil aviation, including augmentation of airport infrastructure at Palaly for greater economic benefits to the people;
III. Energy and Power connectivity:
a. That conclusion of MoU on cooperation in developing renewable energy would develop Sri Lanka’s significant renewable energy potential, including offshore wind and solar, thus enabling Sri Lanka achieve its target of generating 70% of power requirements from renewable energy sources by 2030;
b. To establish a high capacity power grid interconnection between India and Sri Lanka to enable bidirectional electricity trade between Sri Lanka and other regional countries, including the BBIN countries, which has the potential to not only bring down the costs of electricity in Sri Lanka but also help create a valuable and dependable source of foreign exchange for Sri Lanka;
c. To expedite implementation of understanding reached on Sampur Solar power project and LNG infrastructure, and explore cooperation in green hydrogen and green ammonia through use of innovative technologies with an aim to increase renewable energy mix in power generation of Sri Lanka.
d. That ongoing cooperation in development of Trincomalee Tank Farms is a reflection of our endeavour to develop mutually beneficial cooperation projects in Trincomalee area, and agreed to further develop Trincomalee as a national and regional hub of industry, energy and economic activity on the basis of mutual understanding;
e. To cooperate for construction of a multi-product petroleum pipeline from Southern part of India to Sri Lanka with an aim to ensure affordable and reliable supply of energy resources to Sri Lanka;
f. To undertake mutually agreed joint exploration and production of hydrocarbons in Sri Lanka’s offshore basins with an aim to develop Sri Lanka’s upstream petroleum sector.
IV. Trade, Economic and Financial Connectivity:
a. That salience of bilateral trade and economic engagements was significantly demonstrated during COVID pandemic and economic crisis of Sri Lanka, and agreed to facilitate mutual investments through, inter alia, policy consistency, promoting ease of doing business and fair treatment of each other’s investors;
b. To facilitate investments from India in the divestment of Sri Lankan State-owned Enterprises and in manufacturing/economic zones in various sectors in Sri Lanka;
c. To undertake discussions on Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement with an aim to comprehensively enhance bilateral trade and investments in new and priority areas;
d. That decision to designate INR as currency for trade settlements between the two countries has forged stronger and mutually-beneficial commercial linkages, and agreed to operationalise UPI based digital payments for further enhancing trade and transactions between businesses and common people.
e. That India’s rapid digitalisation is an important force-multiplier for ongoing transformational changes in India, both in economic development and governance, and agreed to leverage India’s Digital Public Infrastructure in accordance with Sri Lanka’s requirements and priorities towards effective and efficient delivery of citizen-centric services to the people of Sri Lanka;
V. People-to-people Connectivity:
a. To promote awareness and popularize India’s Buddhist circuit, and Ramayana trail as well as ancient places of Buddhist, Hindu and other religious worship in Sri Lanka for enhancing tourism;
b. To explore cooperation between educational institutions on both sides including through establishment of new higher education and skilling campuses in Sri Lanka in accordance with Sri Lanka’s requirements and priorities;
c. To expand cooperation between research and academic institutes in areas of mutual interests such as agriculture, aquaculture, IT, business, finance and management, health and medicine, earth and marine sciences, oceanography, space applications, as well as history, culture, languages, literature, religious studies and other humanities; and
d. To establish land connectivity between Sri Lanka and India for developing land access to the ports of Trincomalee and Colombo, propelling economic growth and prosperity in both Sri Lanka and India, and further consolidating miliennia old relationship between the two countries. A feasibility study for such connectivity will be conducted at an early date.
5. Both the leaders directed respective officials concerned to expedite realisation of this shared vision, which will not only impart long-term direction and significant momentum to bilateral cooperation for growth and prosperity in both countries and in the wider region, but also set the future direction of a dynamic India-Sri Lanka relationship, founded on enhanced mutual confidence and trust.