Colombo, Sri Lanka, has survived two difficult years of its economic crisis and this was made possible by financial support of $3.5 billion from India, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Saturday and emphasized his commitment to maintaining a strong partnership with New Delhi.
In his speech at the 31st India Partners Meeting in Colombo from June 20 to 22, Wickremesinghe said that during his last visit to India to attend the swearing-in of the new government he discussed with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi , the central areas of the association.
“After having survived two difficult years, I must admit that this was possible thanks to India granting us a loan of 3.5 billion dollars. All of that will be returned,” he stated.
Wickremesinghe said sustainable energy is one of the serious areas where the two nations would work together.
“When I was in Delhi last week, I spoke to Prime Minister Modi about the need to accelerate the joint program that we have decided and agreed upon. This is how the main ones are identified. Now this will show the new path we are taking and a number of projects will all be in one package,” he said.
He added that Sri Lanka had discussed a number of proposals.
“Firstly, there is the grid interconnection between Sri Lanka and India, so that sustainable energy can be transmitted to India, where everyone urgently needs it. We have the Sampur solar project, which is a government-to-government (G2G) project, and a three-island project, which is where we hope the foundation stone can be laid in July,” he said.
Wickremesinghe added that he is also focusing attention on a project to establish land connectivity between Sri Lanka and India.
“Extensive discussions have also been held on the acceleration of the Trincomalee Development Project, which encompasses industrial investment zones and tourism areas. Also, plans are afoot to construct a multi-product pipeline from Nagapattinam to Trincomalee, pending the final observation report,” he said.
Wickremesinghe also mentioned the meeting of directors of the International Monetary Fund, the global lender that is helping the island nation emerge from the economic crisis.
“We just concluded the IMF board meeting, which was quite successful and we are preparing to meet with our creditor nations, the Paris Club, India and others, who will meet in the official committee of creditors next week, and we will also hold talks with China with the Exim Bank of China,” he said.
"I hope that by next week, or later, we will be out of this bankruptcy phase and into the next phase as we move forward," he said.
In April 2022, the island nation declared its first sovereign default since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. The unprecedented financial crisis led President Wickremesinghe's predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to resign from office in 2022.
Earlier in May, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry had said that Sri Lanka was considering a reduction of about $17 billion from its total debt burden in the ongoing debt restructuring process.
In March, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it had reached a staff-level agreement with Sri Lanka for the next phase that would allow it to access $337 million of the nearly $3 billion bailout approved in 2023 for countries with liquidity problems. country.
Two tranches of $330 million each were released in March and December 2023, even as the Washington-based global lender praised Colombo for its macroeconomic policy reforms, which it said “are starting to bear fruit.”
In his speech at the 31st India Partners Meeting in Colombo from June 20 to 22, Wickremesinghe said that during his last visit to India to attend the swearing-in of the new government he discussed with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi , the central areas of the association.
“After having survived two difficult years, I must admit that this was possible thanks to India granting us a loan of 3.5 billion dollars. All of that will be returned,” he stated.
Wickremesinghe said sustainable energy is one of the serious areas where the two nations would work together.
“When I was in Delhi last week, I spoke to Prime Minister Modi about the need to accelerate the joint program that we have decided and agreed upon. This is how the main ones are identified. Now this will show the new path we are taking and a number of projects will all be in one package,” he said.
He added that Sri Lanka had discussed a number of proposals.
“Firstly, there is the grid interconnection between Sri Lanka and India, so that sustainable energy can be transmitted to India, where everyone urgently needs it. We have the Sampur solar project, which is a government-to-government (G2G) project, and a three-island project, which is where we hope the foundation stone can be laid in July,” he said.
Wickremesinghe added that he is also focusing attention on a project to establish land connectivity between Sri Lanka and India.
“Extensive discussions have also been held on the acceleration of the Trincomalee Development Project, which encompasses industrial investment zones and tourism areas. Also, plans are afoot to construct a multi-product pipeline from Nagapattinam to Trincomalee, pending the final observation report,” he said.
Wickremesinghe also mentioned the meeting of directors of the International Monetary Fund, the global lender that is helping the island nation emerge from the economic crisis.
“We just concluded the IMF board meeting, which was quite successful and we are preparing to meet with our creditor nations, the Paris Club, India and others, who will meet in the official committee of creditors next week, and we will also hold talks with China with the Exim Bank of China,” he said.
"I hope that by next week, or later, we will be out of this bankruptcy phase and into the next phase as we move forward," he said.
In April 2022, the island nation declared its first sovereign default since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. The unprecedented financial crisis led President Wickremesinghe's predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to resign from office in 2022.
Earlier in May, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry had said that Sri Lanka was considering a reduction of about $17 billion from its total debt burden in the ongoing debt restructuring process.
In March, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it had reached a staff-level agreement with Sri Lanka for the next phase that would allow it to access $337 million of the nearly $3 billion bailout approved in 2023 for countries with liquidity problems. country.
Two tranches of $330 million each were released in March and December 2023, even as the Washington-based global lender praised Colombo for its macroeconomic policy reforms, which it said “are starting to bear fruit.”
