Indian External affairs minister to visit Sri Lanka this week

Indian External affairs minister S Jaishankar will visit Colombo this week for what will be the first high-level engagement between India and Sri Lanka since the new Lankan president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, assumed office last week. The visit will be an important occasion for India to reaffirm its commitment to development support for the strategically located Indian Ocean neighbour amid concerns over a realignment in its foreign policy under the Marxist president.

Jaishankar will also call on the president during what will also be the first visit by any foreign minister to Sri Lanka after the presidential election.

Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha was the first foreign diplomat to call on Dissanayake after the election outcome was announced.

With the visit by Jaishankar, which is expected to commence on October 4, the Indian government will also hope to build on its outreach to Dissanayake in the past 12 months that saw him visiting Delhi earlier this

(  Times of India )

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