“This support is a lasting reminder that India’s help at our hour of need is remembered and deeply valued by our people,” said Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasurya
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya said today that India’s neighbourhood first policy is helping all the neighbouring countries. Delivering the keynote address at the NDTV World Summit on “Steering change in uncertain times”, she also thanked India for its support during the economic crisis in 2022. “This support is a lasting reminder that India’s help at our hour of need is remembered and deeply valued by our people,” she said.
India, she said, “redefined leadership” during the crisis.
As part of its “Neighbourhood First” policy during the 2022 economic crisis in Sri Lanka, New Delhi had extended a Line of Credit of $500 million in February that year for purchase of petroleum products from India. The next month, $1 billion Credit Facility was extended for supply of essential items including food items, medicines and fuel.
The government had said that India is confident about the “strength and enduring nature of its bilateral ties with Sri Lanka which is deep-rooted and multi-dimensional”.
Amarasuriya – who is on her maiden visit to India — said today the island nation had gone through a “phase of political and economic crises after Covid. But the resilience of the people shone through”.
“The presidential and parliamentary elections achieved a clear mandate for a forward-looking Sri Lanka. We have restructured our debt and we are digitising the public structure,” she added, explaining the current situation in her country.
Amarasuriya, who had studied in India in the 1990s, said, “Standing here in Delhi, feels like coming a full circle”.
“In 1991, I was a student here at Hindu College navigating a period of flux. It was a period of change. Returning now, I have seen India transform. It’s a vibrant country of 1.4 billion,” said Amarasuriya, who was appointed Prime Minister last year and is the third woman in the neighbouring country to hold the post.
