Jaishankar meets Sri Lanka’s FM; to discuss its economic crisis, BIMSTEC summit

India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Monday, met Basil Rajapaksa, Finance Minister of Sri Lanka, to discuss about the island nation’s ongoing current foreign exchange crisis and India’s support. Sri Lanka, due to a shortage of foreign exchange, is facing an acute economic and energy crisis shortage.

Jaishankar, in a tweet, said, “Began the visit by meeting Finance Minister @RealBRajapaksa. Discussed the economic situation and India’s supportive response. We will continue to be guided by Neighbourhood First.”

Jaishankar is visiting the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo to attend the seven-nation Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit and have bilateral talks with the country’s top leadership. Apart from India and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan will also be participating in the BIMSTEC summit.

The summit is expected to focus on expanding economic engagement among its member countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be attending the BIMSTEC ’s virtual summit on March 30,

Although Jaishankar’s primary reason to visit the country is the BIMSTEC engagements, Sri Lankan officials have said that he would be taking part in all important bilateral talks. External Affairs Minister’s this visit is taking place at a time when the public outrage over the island nation’s government’s inefficiency to handle the crisis has come out in the open.

Interestingly, this is also his first visit to the nation since India extended an economic relief package to bail Sri Lanka out of the current economic crisis. The summit is being hosted by Sri Lanka in its capacity as the chair of the grouping BIMSTEC.

Citizens of Sri Lanka, amidst the current foreign exchange crisis, are holding protests and vigils urging immediate solutions to rid them of fuel and gas queues and enduring long hours of power cuts. In the island nation, all essentials are in short supply due to import restrictions forced by the forex crisis.

India, as part of its financial assistance to the country to deal with the economic crisis, announced to extend a $1 billion line of credit to Sri Lanka. New Delhi had extended a $500 million line of credit to Colombo in February to help it purchase petroleum products.

(With inputs from agencies)