Foreign Secretary Shringla visits Jaffna; briefed about Palaly airport's development

Colombo, Oct 3 (PTI) Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Sunday inspected Jaffna's Palaly airport in Sri Lanka’s Tamil-dominated Northern province where he was briefed by officials on the development work undertaken with India's assistance.

Shringla arrived in Sri Lanka on Saturday on a four-day visit during which he will meet the top leadership, including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, and review the bilateral ties between India and the island nation.

"Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Sunday inspected Jaffna's Palaly airport, yet another of India's development engagements in the island," the Indian High Commission here said in a statement.

In 2019, India provided Sri Lanka with 300 million Sri Lankan rupees towards upgrading the Palaly airport’s runway.

After Sri Lanka christened Palaly as its third international airport in November 2019, India’s Alliance Air ran a twice weekly flight between Palaly and Chennai.

With the outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020, the operations were halted.

Shringla also visited the Jaffna Cultural Center which, he said, was constructed with an Indian government grant of USD 11 million.

He visited the iconic Jaffna Cultural Centre, which is built with Indian grant assistance.

“The iconic, state-of-the-art cultural centre will help people of Northern Province reconnect with their roots and in nurturing our shared cultural heritage," the statement said.

Shringla talked about India's help to support the maintenance of the Jaffna Cultural Centre.

“I am happy to announce that the government of India will support the maintenance of this building for a period of 5 years,” Shringla said.

Shringla arrived in Jaffna after his visit to the Temple of the Tooth in the central town of Kandy.

“This is a site of spiritual importance not just for Sri Lanka but also for India,” he said after being received at the foremost Buddhist shrine in the island and receiving blessings there.

The Jaffna leg of the trip in the North was his last for the day after visiting Kandy and Trincomalee in the east.

In Trincomalee, he visited the World War II oil tanks farm, a key Indo-Lanka economic partnership link for decades.

Since 2003, the Indian Oil Corporation’s local entity LIOC has been running an operation there.

Shringla’s key political appointments are to take place on Monday in Colombo, official sources said.

In addition to the Rajapaksa brothers, Shringla would meet a delegation of the main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance for discussions.

India has been consistently calling upon Sri Lanka to fulfil its commitments to protect the interests of the Tamil community and preserve the island nation's character as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society.

The Tamil community in Sri Lanka has been demanding the implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that provides for devolution of power to it. The 13th Amendment was brought in after the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement of 1987.

Ahead of Shringla's visit, the Ministry of External Affairs said that Sri Lanka occupies a central place in India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy. The foreign secretary’s visit signifies the importance both countries attach to strengthening their close and cordial relations in all spheres of mutual interest, it said.

"The visit of Foreign Secretary will provide an opportunity to review our bilateral ties, progress of ongoing bilateral projects and ongoing cooperation to tackle Covid related disruptions," the MEA said in a press release. PTI CORR RUP ZH AKJ