Following a visit to India in February 2020, the September 26 bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the first official communication from Sri Lankan PM Mahindra Rajapaksa’s side. The Prime Minister who won the Sri Lankan elections without taking an Anti-India stand is now seen as an ally of India as opposed to previous years when Sri Lanka was more aligned towards Chinese interests. This new alliance between India and Sri Lanka is seen in the island nation’s support to India on the LAC conflict issue with President Rajapaksa saying that the country will have an India-first approach if it has to take sides in the ensuing conflict in future.
The virtual meeting is likely to touch on financial aid with Colombo’s debt moratorium request to be discussed at length. The Sri Lankan Prime Minister had requested the moratorium of three years on his last visit in February. Keeping the economic challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented both the countries with, the topic of debt moratorium and economic cooperation between the two supremos is anticipated to be of top priority. With Sri Lanka facing a debt of billions right now, whether India grants the requested moratorium after the meeting will be crucial for Sri Lanka.
The countries are also supposed to discuss various joint development projects such as the East Container Terminal Project that has been facing roadblocks in Colombo due to protests against foreign investments in the country and giving a national project to foreign companies. While investments from China have gone ahead without restriction in Sri Lanka, India is still facing trouble with ECT. Prime Minister Modi will be focusing on the resolution of the issue this time.
On the political front the LAC issue, which has been the talking point of the South Asian geopolitical scenario, is expected to be discussed. The mounting tensions between China and India are not hidden to any of India’s neighbors and the two leaders will be addressing the elephant in the room. With the threat of Chinese dominance looming over India and ties between India and Nepal turning sour, India will be looking to fortify its ties with Sri Lanka. PM Rajapaksa’s statement regarding the Sri Lankan approach to the LAC conflict comes with hopes of Sri Lanka being a promising ally for India in world politics.
Among other subjects, the two leaders will be discussing the impact of COVID-19 on their respective countries and the plan ahead to tackle it together. They are also likely to talk about resuming trade and tourism in the wake of the pandemic. Sri Lanka and India were major tourism destinations and trade partners for each other before COVID-19. The leaders will, therefore, have to come up with a plan to resume trade and tourism on a full scale after the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way politics and trade are done between countries and with the changing backdrop of South Asian geopolitics, the September 26 talks between the two neighboring countries will carry a much higher weightage than before.
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