Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, while attending the 18th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting in Colombo today emphasised that both India and Sri Lanka are going to work towards intensifying and expanding areas of cooperation, especially connectivity, energy and maritime cooperation.
The Minister in a series of tweets mentioned, "Will encourage active business collaboration and common projects to this end." To achieve business collaboration, he stated that cooperation on port facilities, ferry services, coastal
shipping, grid connectivity and motor vehicles movement are key.
Jaishankar added that the neighbour countries must also collectively combat terrorism, violent extremism, transnational crime, cyber-attacks and narco-trafficking.
Lastly on his tweet, the External Affairs Minister said that he looks forward to the adoption of "our Charter and Master Plan at the Summit tomorrow."
Jaishankar is in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo to attend the seven-nation Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit where he will have bilateral talks with the country’s leadership. Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan will also be participating in the BIMSTEC summit.
The summit is set to focus on expanding economic engagement among member countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be virtually attending the BIMSTEC ’s summit on March 30.
As Sri Lanka continues to face economic crisis, India has extended a $1 billion line of credit to the nation.
