Maithri, Modi discuss regional and global issues at 70th UNGA

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi 

New York: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi complimented the Sri Lankan President for the two elections that were successfully conducted in Sri Lanka this year when the two leaders met on the sidelines of the United Nations 70th General Assembly in New York on Friday.

The Indian Prime Minister said the two elections in Sri Lanka this year showed the “deep-rooted democratic traditions” of the island nation.

The two leaders, among other things, discussed regional and global issues that are of mutual interest to both countries.

“Spoke about regional and global issues with President @MaithripalaS. Our meeting was very fruitful,” Prime Minister Modi said in a Twitter message Friday.

President Sirisena, as the current Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth, has officially invited Prime Minister Modi to attend the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled to be held in Malta this November.

Following the meeting, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Vikas Swarup told the media that the two leaders reviewed the bilateral relationship between the two states and the progress of various India-funded projects in Sri Lanka, ANI reported.

The spokesperson told the media that “India had made a number of new and additional commitments on railway infrastructure, power projects, upper tank farms and the housing project, where we have done 37,000 out of the 57,000 houses that we had committed to, and we expect 46,000 houses to be completed by early next year”.

The reconciliation process also came up during the discussion, the spokesperson said, adding that the Sri Lankan President has expressed a desire to move forward now.

Swarup further said that there was a brief discussion on the Human Rights Council situation pertaining to the island nation and India has made it known that as far as India is concerned, they naturally support the quest for justice.

“At the same time, we are respectful of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and are hopeful that a way will be found where both these points and objectives can be met,” he added.

The Indian leader has pledged to extend India’s fullest cooperation to Sri Lanka to fulfill its future activities.