Jaishankar unveils Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Sri Lanka

Jaishankar, who met Wickremesinghe at his House, conveyed PM Modi’s warm greetings and discussed the way forward for the bilateral cooperation, especially in power, energy, connectivity, port infrastructure, aviation, digital, health, food security, education and tourism sectors. Taking  to X, Jaishankar wrote, “Honoured to call on Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Conveyed the warm greetings of PM @narendramodi. Appreciated the progress made on various bilateral projects and initiatives.”

“Under President @RW_UNP’s guidance, discussed the way forward for the India-Sri Lanka cooperation, especially in power, energy, connectivity, port infrastructure, aviation, digital, health, food security, education and tourism sectors. Committed to working for the steady development of our traditionally close and friendly ties,” he said.

A statement issued by the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said Jaishankar also joined President Wickremesinghe in virtually handing over 48 houses, 24 each in Colombo and Trincomalee, built under the Model Village Housing Project and 106 houses in three up-country estates, built under Phase III of the Indian Housing Project, with funding from India.

Wickremesinghe and Jaishankar jointly unveiled the virtual plaque to mark the formal commissioning of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Sri Lanka under a USD 6 million grant from India. This includes a center at Navy Headquarters in Colombo, a sub-centre in Hambantota and unmanned installations at Galle, Arugambay, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Kallarawa, Point Pedro and Mollikulam.

“Joined Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ministers and senior officials at the virtual commissioning of Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) and virtual handing over of 154 houses under GOl housing schemes @RW_UNP,” Jaishankar posted on X.

“President @RW_UNP and Indian EAM @DrSJaishankar jointly unveiled the virtual plaque for 106 houses in Kandy, N’Eliya and Matale under the Indian Housing Project with 24 houses in each model village in Colombo & Trincomalee being handed over virtually,” the President’s Media Division (PMD) also posted on X.

Jaishankar also called on Prime Minister Gunawardena and reiterated India’s strong support through development and connectivity initiatives. “Confident that our development assistance and capacity building programmes will keep delivering for the aspirations of people of Sri Lanka,” he said.

The Prime Minister congratulated Jaishankar on the election victory of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and reassured Sri Lanka’s commitment to work together to further strengthen close bilateral relations, a release said.He thanked India for assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis.

Jaishankar said that neighbours such as Sri Lanka are extremely important to India and there is tremendous goodwill for them in India. He said the Indian government reaffirms the ‘Neighbourhood First’ Policy and the main purpose of his visit is to underline India’s continued commitment to Sri Lanka as its closest maritime neighbour.They discussed Indian investments, development projects, connectivity projects and other mutually beneficial cooperation in multiple spheres.