The 40th Meeting of the Board of Directors of the India–Sri Lanka Foundation (ISLF) was held in Colombo on 19 September 2025. The session was co-chaired by the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, H.E. Mr. Santosh Jha, and the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India, H.E. Ms. Mahishini Colonne. The meeting was also attended by the Board Members of the Foundation, Amb. Mohan Kumar, Mr. Ashok Malik, Amb. Prasad Kariyawasam, and Amb. Esala Weerakoon.
The Board reviewed the progress of ongoing projects and approved several new proposals received by the Colombo and New Delhi Secretariats across diverse sectors including culture, education, health, environment, agriculture, and capacity building.
Notable approved initiatives encompass academic collaborations in library science and visual and performing arts, cultural workshops and tourism promotion activities in both countries, microbiome engineering research to prevent plant diseases in Sri Lanka, cancer and menstrual health awareness programs for vulnerable communities, training opportunities for Sri Lankan health professionals in India, women’s empowerment workshops and support programmes for underprivileged communities, capacity building initiatives for fisheries officials to strengthen the sector, and knowledge sharing programs in science and environmental fields alongside mangrove restoration projects in coastal regions.
The ISLF was established on 28 December 1998 by a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Governments of India and Sri Lanka, with the objective of fostering bilateral relations through the enhancement of economic, scientific, educational, technical and cultural cooperation as well as the promotion of people-to-people ties between the two countries. Since its inception, the Foundation has extended support for around 600 projects worth over SLR 200 million, with more than 360 projects being implemented in Sri Lanka.
