Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa will visit India in later this month to formalise India’s economic relief package for the island nation facing a serious forex crisis, Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris said.
This will be Mr. Rajapaksa’s second visit to New Delhi in two months.
Mr. Peiris told reporters here that Rajapaksa’s visit to India in December “brought in many fruitful outcomes as we received $ 2.4 billion assistance from India as a result”.
Foreign Minister Mr. Peiris said that India’s intervention in Sri Lanka’s economic woes was much positive and significant.
“The close integration of our economy with India would be very beneficial, one third of our tourist arrivals are from India,” the minister said.
Mr. Rajapaksa’s next visit would be important for Sri Lanka to clinch the $ 1 billion credit line meant for importing food and medicine, the foreign minister said.
However, no schedule was announced for his visit. (WithinputsfromPTI)