India and Sri Lanka signed 3 agreements

New Delhi. India_Sri Lanka on Wednesday signed three agreements to promote greater cooperation between the two countries. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar met Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo and held "wide-ranging discussions" aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.

Jaishankar, who was in Colombo for the 23rd Council of Ministers meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), met President Wickremesinghe at the Presidential Secretariat.

External Affairs Minister Jaishankar said in an ex-post that he met Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo this evening. Hearty greetings from PM Narendra Modi. Discussed progress in advancing India-Sri Lanka relations in many areas of our cooperation. Glad to see the exchange of agreements and inauguration of projects in the presence of President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Presidential Secretariat this evening, it said in another post. He said these projects in social housing, community development and dairy sectors will improve the ease of living of Sri Lankans.

Apart from this, three new bilateral agreements were signed to promote greater cooperation between the two countries. A series of agreements included the virtual inauguration of some 250 homes and the unveiling of a joint logo. External Affairs Minister Jaishankar had arrived in Colombo on Monday evening to attend the meeting of the IORA Council of Ministers, the highest decision-making body of the organization. IORA is the largest and leading organization in the Indian Ocean region with 23 members and 10 dialogue partners. The meeting elected India as the Vice-Chair of IORA for 2023-25 with a view to becoming the Chair in 2025-27.
(Report. Shashwat Tiwari)