Lankan High Commissioner meets NSA Doval, discusses ‘priority areas’ to step up partnership

Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda called on National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval earlier this week to hold discussions that Colombo said were “centered on a comprehensive review of the status of the relations” between the two countries.

The meeting which took place on Thursday was also attended by Deputy National Security Advisor Vikram Misri and Sri Lanka’s Deputy High Commissioner Niluka Kadurugamuwa.

This was Lankan High Commissioner’s first interaction with a top Indian official after the recent controversy over Colombo allowing a Chinese Space and Satellite Tracking ship Yuan Wang 5 to dock at Hambantota.

India, which has gone out of its way to help Sri Lanka during the current economic crisis with a more than $3.5 billion lifeline for buying food, fuel, and medicines, was quite upset as the Ranil Wickremesinghe government gave approval to the Chinese satellite tracker military ship to dock at Hambantota from August 11 to 17.

The Lankan High Commission in New Delhi said that during Moragoda’s meeting with NSA Doval, which was part of the regular and ongoing dialogue between the two sides, “priority areas for future cooperation” were discussed.

Earlier this month, during a discussion on the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka in the ongoing 51 st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, India also expressed its concern over the lack of progress on a solution to the Tamil issue.

“The Indian delegation notes with concern the lack of measurable progress by the Government of Sri Lanka on their commitments of a political solution to the ethnic issue – through full implementation of the 13th Amendment of the Constitution, delegation of powers to Provincial Councils, and holding of Provincial Council elections at the earliest,” India had said in a statement.

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