Moragoda with Indian External Affairs Ministers S Jayashankar

 

The Sri Lankan High Commissioner Milinda Moragoda said on Thursday that India has supported cash-strapped Sri Lanka last year when the island nation was hit by an unprecedented economic crisis, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948.

He said that currently, Sri Lanka is looking towards the recovery phase, reported news agency ANI.

While speaking at the INDIA-SRI LANKA-JAPAN Trilateral Cooperation Event co-hosted by NatStrat, VIF, Pathfinder, and CII, Moragoda highlighted that there was a joint economic vision statement between President Ranil Wickremesinghe and PM Modi, which outlined three key areas- One was 'connectivity', the second was 'economic integration' and the third was investment, according to ANI.

He also hailed the trilateral cooperation between the two countries and said that given the amount of investment required, it hence becomes an important aspect.

He told ANI, "Given the amount of investment that is required, trilateral cooperation becomes an important aspect of it...President's visit was focused on economic cooperation."

When asked about the Chinese Submarine and its presence in the Indian Ocean region, the High Commissioner said the incident was some time ago and the President's visit focussed on economic integration.

"The submarine incident was some time ago. It was not a recent issue and At the moment, we are looking forward because the visit by the President was focused on economic cooperation.

India supported Sri Lanka when we had a lot of difficulties and now we are looking at the economic recovery phase and how India and Sri Lanka can come together in that context," said the High Commissioner.