India’s Minister of External Affairs, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday (October 04) on an official visit.

Upon arriving in the island, the foreign minister was welcomed by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardane and Indian High Commissioner to Colombo Santosh Jha at the BIA airport. 

“Good to be in Colombo again. Look forward to my engagements with the Sri Lankan leadership today,” Jaishankar post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) after arriving in the country.

During this visit, the Indian External Affairs Minister is scheduled to pay courtesy calls on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya. 

The visiting Indian External Affairs Minister and his delegation will also have a meeting with Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister Jaishankar is accompanied by senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs of India.

This is the first visit of any foreign minister to Sri Lanka since the new government was sworn in last week. 

Dr Jaishankar’s meeting with the leadership reaffirms India’s bilateral ties with Sri Lanka, Indian media reported yesterday.

“In keeping with India’s neighbourhood first policy and SAGAR outlook, the visit underlines the shared commitment of the two countries to further deepen the longstanding partnership for mutual benefit,” said India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

This will be the first high-level engagement between India and Sri Lanka since the new President was sworn in.