New Delhi: The Government of India will also support the development of facilities for tourists and pilgrims at sites associated with the Ramayana circuit in Sri Lanka.
This was stated by Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla, who is on a visit to the island nation.
"Let me state on this occasion that on our part, we will leave no stone unturned in mitigating the adverse impact of the COVID-19 restrictions on our socio-economic engagement and will stand together with Government of Sri Lanka in its efforts for post-Covid recovery," he said during the inauguration of Indian Development Cooperation projects at Temple Trees in Colombo.
He said the bilateral engagement between two countries is across different spheres.
The high-level visits, in particular, the state visits of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to India in November 2019 and February 2020, respectively, have given fresh impetus to the bilateral relations.
The Virtual Bilateral Summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in September 2020 was an important milestone as it set the template for the future evolution of our cooperation in fields such as defence and security, health, tourism, trade and commerce and people to people ties, Mr Shringla said.
He maintained that India buttressed its credentials as a net security provider and first responder in HADR situations in the wider Indian Ocean region in the past year.
He further said that India was happy to respond to Sri Lanka's requests in recent fire and marine pollution cases in its waters. The Foreign Secretary also called on Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan President in Colombo, on Monday (October 4).
Both sides had a productive discussion on further consolidating the multifaceted India-Sri Lanka partnership, officials said.
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