Lankan Prez must fully implement vision document with India: Wickremesinghe

Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday said his successor Anura Kumara Dissanayake should fully implement the "vision document" adopted with India last year. 

President Dissanayake, elected to the top office in September this year, is scheduled to visit India in mid-December.

During his India trip in July 2023, then-President Wickremesinghe had signed a vision document with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, outlining areas of cooperation between the two countries, especially economic partnership. 

"In the vision document signed by me and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, we have set out the areas of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. I am of the opinion he (Dissanayake) should move forward and we should implement this vision document in its entirety," he told PTI. 

Wickremesinghe, who attended an event at the Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar school in Indore, was replying when asked what should be the areas of mutual cooperation when Dissanayake visits New Delhi next month and meets PM Modi and other Indian leaders. 

The vision document adopted during Wickremesinghe's tour emphasised on strengthening maritime, air, energy ties and people-to-people connectivity between India and Sri Lanka. It also envisaged accelerating mutual cooperation in tourism, power, trade, higher education and skill development. 

Earlier, Wickremesinghe inaugurated a sports complex at the Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar and later addressed the audience on the topic "Common Heritage: India and the Indian Ocean". 

Referring to India's assistance during Sri Lanka's unprecedented economic crisis, he said his country has benefited from this legacy during the most difficult period in its history. 

Wickremesinghe, who has also served as prime minister of the island nation, thanked PM Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the financial assistance. 

Notably, in April 2022, Sri Lanka declared its first-ever sovereign default since gaining Independence from Britain in 1948. The unprecedented financial crisis led the then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to quit office amid civil unrest. 

India had then pitched in with about $4 billion in assistance to enable the island nation to recover from the crisis after it announced the default on over $51 billion in foreign loans. 

Citing different examples at the school gathering, Wickremesinghe maintained India and Sri Lanka have had religious, trade, linguistic and cultural relations since ancient times.