India commends Sri Lanka’s efforts to improve security and reconciliation in the Indian Ocean Regio

Singapore: The government of India has commended Sri Lanka’s efforts to improve the security and reconciliation in the Indian Ocean Region.

Indian Minister of State for External Affairs M. J. Akbar made this observation when he met with Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during the 2016 Indian Ocean Conference Inauguration held Thursday at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Singapore.

The Indian State Minister said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s participation at the Indian Ocean conference has strengthened and added to the spread of the event globally.

The Prime Minister stated that while the historical ties between India and Sri Lanka were important, the historical factors of the Indian Ocean were just as imperative.

The Premier has stressed that the issues facing the Indian Ocean Region should be solved through discussion and consensus, and that collectively entering into an agreement to face the challenges of the future was crucial.

The Sri Lankan Premier and the Indian state minister also discussed strengthening the bilateral ties between the two countries and India’s support for Sri Lanka’s development goals.

“We also discussed how the bilateral agreements between India and Sri Lanka should be strengthened, and further explored the avenue of India supporting the development activities of Sri Lanka through its entrepreneurial backing of the public and private sectors,” the Prime Minister said in a communiqué.

Premier Wickremesinghe left for Singapore Thursday morning to attend the two-day Indian Ocean Conference titled “The Indian Ocean Conference 2016 - Culture, Commerce & Comity” organised by the India Foundation.

The Conference is a unique initiative to convene critical states, key stakeholders and principal maritime partners to deliberate on how to create a zone of shared security, shared prosperity and shared development in the Indian Ocean Region.

The PM is scheduled to hold discussions with several leaders on the sideline of the two-day conference.