Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar is to visit Colombo with a business delegation this weekend. They will interact with the Sri Lankan officials, and business leaders over three days from Saturday on possibilities of collaboration and cooperation in a wide range of fields.
Jaishankar will call on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and the foreign minister Samaraweera.
The visit assumes significance since China has a large economic footprint in Sri Lanka and the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government, shedding its initial reservations,is wooing the Chinese Yuans for several big ticket infrastructure and industrial projects.
Jaishankar’s visit is in synch with the policy of Modi government of using diplomacy to promote India’s trade and investment abroad.Potential Indo-Lanka partnerships in areas like transport, energy and infrastructure will be focus of his discussions. The agenda will include likely partnerships in the power sector using Liquefied Natural Gas, developing the Trincomalee Oil Farm and expansion of the airports in Palaly in Jaffna Peninsula and Colombo.
As of now, Jaishankar is unlikely to discuss the proposed Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) which the two governments have been negotiating for a while.
While the Sri Lankan Government wants ETCA to be signed by December 2016, the Indian Commerce Ministry is sees May 2017 as the more realistic deadline for the conclusion of talks.
India has offered to construct a 500 MW Liquefied Natural Gas- fuelled power plant at Kerawelapitiya north of Colombo in place of the cancelled coal fired power plant of the same capacity at Sampur in Eastern Lanka. At Sampur, India proposes to set up solar energy plants and is awaiting the Sri Lankan government’ nod.
Likewise, India will be building highways linking Jaffna with Mannar; Mannar with Trincomalee via Vavunia; and Vavuniya with Colombo via Kurunegala.
Chinese plans for Sri Lanka include an Industrial Zone spread over 15,000 acres in Hambantota and running the now idle Hambantota Port and Mattla Airport in PPP mode. China is already building the $ 1.4 billion Colombo Port City.
Jaishankar is accompanied by an official delegation of top officials from public sector companies such as GAIL, NTPC, IOC and RITES and a team from the Confederation of Indian Industries.