Relationship With India Not a One-project Issue , Says Sri Lanka after Scrapping ECT Project in Colombo
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Sri Lanka s foreign minister Dinesh Gunawardena has said that ties between his country and India will not be impacted despite its decision to pull out of the trilateral East Container Terminal Port project on the Colombo port with India and Japan.
In an exclusive interview with CNN-News 18, Gunawardena said, “The India-Sri Lanka relation is vast. It is not only one project, it is many projects - trade, investment, commerce, understanding on international affairs, historical bonds, long-standing cultural relations and sharing of the Indian Ocean.”
January 25, 2021
Weeks after India’s External Affairs Minister visited Sri Lanka, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gave the green light to the India-backed port project in Colombo. The project, earlier put on hold following protests by workers’ unions, is approved at a time when the island nation is seeking a $2-billion financial lifeline from New Delhi.
Reports suggest that the Rajapaksa government has been seeking a $1 billion currency swap and $1 billion debt moratorium from India to save it from sinking into a sea of foreign debt.
Sri Lanka’s economic situation has turned worse of late. As of September 2020, the country was facing $51.6 billion in foreign debt, according to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The foreign reserves dropped to $5.5 billion as of November 2020, down from the $7.6 billion in December 2019.
Sohini Nayak
The sixth meeting of the India-Nepal Joint Commission, co-chaired by Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Nepalese counterpart Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, was held on 15 January 2021 in New Delhi. As the Nepalese delegation, comprising the Foreign Minister, Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal and other senior officials visited India, the world kept a keen eye on the probable developments, after the cold demeanour of the recent past over the border row.
As mentioned by the spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Anurag Arivastava, the primary vision of this meeting lay in having constructive discussions on the bilateral relationship between the two countries, that has indeed been taking the test of time and implement constructive measures for the future.
Ayjaz Wani
On 20 December, Pakistan’s Minister for Defence Production Zubaida Jalal officially opened another border crossing point with Iran to facilitate trade and travel between the two historically-linked countries. The minister also inaugurated an immigration office at the new Gwadar-Ramdhan entry point, about 130 km from the strategic Chabahar port in Iran, being built by India. The crossing is suitably located for bilateral import and export of fruits, construction material, livestock and petroleum products.
The opening of this crossing was finalised during the visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Dr Javad Zarifto Pakistan on 12 November. As per the agreement, more border crossing points will be opened in the near future. Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that the opening of another international border crossing-point underlines the strengthening bilateral ties and increasing economic activities.
Ambar Kumar Ghosh
History bears testimony to the fact that peaceful expression of public concern has been a hallmark of a robust democracy. India as the largest and a well-functioning democracy has also been an effective breeding ground for nurturing a culture that has consolidated citizens’ right to free expression regarding all issues that concerns their life and well-being.
In tandem with the nation’s deep-rooted spirit of democratic expression and dissent, the country is witnessing a protracted farmers’ protest against the three farm laws that was passed by the Parliament earlier this year. Despite concerted attempts by the Central government to allay the fears of the farmers regarding the contentious legislations, the furore over the issue refuses to die down.