MEA confirms Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's India visit from Feb 8-11

The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday announced that Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa will be on a state visit to India from February 8 to February 11. 

While addressing press at the National Capital, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa will be on a state visit to India from February 8 to 11. He will arrive on February 7. February 8 will be the main engagement day where he will hold delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi." 

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Sri Lankan PM to visit Varanasi, Sarnath, Bodhgaya, and Tirupati

Informing further about the Sri Lankan Prime Minister's visit, the MEA stated that after PM Rajapaksa's official engagement in Delhi, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister will visit Varanasi, Sarnath, Bodhgaya, and Tirupati.

Raveesh Kumar also pointed out that there has been a lot of high-level visits between the two countries with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksha choosing India as the first destination for his visit after he took to the office of the Sri Lankan President. 

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Mahinda's first official foreign visit

Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka by his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa following his decisive win in Sri Lanka's presidential election in November last year. Earlier in the first week of January, Sri Lanka's Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena had visited New Delhi to meet with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. External Affairs Minister Jaishankar had also traveled to Colombo in November as a special envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convey his greetings to Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 

During Gotabaya Rajapaksa's visit in November last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a $450 million line of credit to Sri Lanka, including $50 million to fight terrorism.

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(With inputs from ANI)