Perth, Australia

Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in an exclusive interview with WION’s diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal, in Perth, thanked India for the economic support to his country when it was deeply mired in economic crisis.

Speaking to WION, Wickremesinghe said that he is “thankful to India. Without India’s help we could not have survived and this is why we are also looking at closer relations between the two countries”.

The president also revealed plans of IIT Madras establishing a campus in Sri Lanka, “most probably in Kandy”.

“India came forward with an aid of almost $4 billion during our economic crisis. We are thankful to India as without that we could not have survived and this is why we are also looking at closer relations, and more trade,” he said.

“The Indo-Lanka relationship is improving, and today we are looking at close economic ties and improving connectivity between the two countries.”

“Indian companies like Adani are investing in Sri Lanka. We are discussing power connectivity and we have come to an agreement that it should be an undersea cable and will start working out the details. As far as land connectivity is concerned, we need a feasibility study and have appointed officials on both sides for coordination,” he added.

In financial connectivity, talks are on for the implementation of UPI as well as the usage of Indian rupee in Sri Lanka, as it will help tourism. The FTA is already operational and now we are discussing how to advance it to a comprehensive economic and technology partnership, shared the Lankan president.

Advertisment

“India has helped us financially but we’d like to see Indian investments in Sri Lanka.

A ministerial delegation visited India for IIT Madras setting up a campus in Sri Lanka, and we are in the process of identifying the location. But we’d like to take some existing buildings and start it next year,” he added.

Also watch | Sri Lanka President thanks India for economic support; Plans for IIT Campus in Kandy

Advertisment

×

Referring to regional security, and worries over the visits of the Chinese vessels, Wickremesinghe said, “We have told India always is that we’ve kept Indian security in mind and we will not allow anything to happen that will be harmful to Indian security, and these are all hydrographical vessels. So we allowed them to come. We want to keep the big power rivalry out of the Indian Ocean. There should not be any rivalry which has an adverse impact on the Indian Ocean.”

Advertisment

In response to a query on restructuring of debt from China, Wickremesinghe said the Chinese have also agreed to it.

Also read | How China’s ‘smokescreen’ tricks the world against reforms at UN Security Council

Sharing his views on UNSC reforms, the president said, “We feel that the reforms must be done. India should be in the Security Council. But we want overall discussion where we, the smaller countries also have a say.”