Indian Foreign Secretary S.Jaishankar is to visit Sri Lanka with a business delegation this weekend, to promote Indian business and investment in the island nation in accordance with the Narendra Modi government’s policy of using diplomacy to promote India’s trade and investment abroad.
An unstated but important aim of the visit, which is to begin on Saturday, is to compete with China, which has a large economic footprint in Sri Lanka and other countries in India’s neighborhood.
The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government in Sri Lanka has shed its initial reservations about Chinese investments and interests in Sri Lanka, and is going all out to woo Chinese investments in several big ticket infrastructure and industrial projects.
Indian officials however made it clear that Jaishankar will not be discussing the proposed Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with Sri Lanka. ETCA, a controversial subject in Sri Lanka, is being negotiated by the Commerce Ministries of India and Sri Lanka and only two meetings have taken place so far.
-New Indian Express
-Agencies
