National Security Advisor Ajit Doval with Sri Lankan President and presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe during a meeting in Sri Lanka on August 30, 2024. Photo: X/@IndiainSL via PTI
three weeks ago Sri Lanka holds crucial presidential election National Security Advisor Ajit K. Doval, who arrived in Colombo on Thursday On (August 29, 2024), he met key presidential candidates, in addition to political leaders representing the island nation’s Tamil and Muslim minorities.
In his meeting with President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is seeking a mandate promising “economic stability”, Mr Doval discussed ongoing economic cooperation between Sri Lanka and India, the Presidential Media Division said.
Mr Doval also met opposition leaders Sajith Premadasa and Anura Kumara DissanayakeWho are the main rivals of incumbent Prime Minister Wickremesinghe in the September 21 election – in which nearly three dozen other candidates will be in the fray for the country’s top post. India’s bilateral cooperation in economic development and security interests was one of the main discussion points in the meetings, sources said.
Mr Premadasa leads Sri Lanka’s main opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB or United People’s Force), a breakaway faction of Mr Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP).
Posting on social media platform ‘X’ after his meeting with the Indian NSA, Mr Dissanayake, who leads the centre-left National People’s Power coalition, said: “We discussed the political relations between our two countries and the current political situation ahead of the presidential election.”
Message to minorities
Mr Doval also held extensive discussions with leaders representing the country’s ethnic minorities such as Tamils living in the north and east, Malaiyaha (hill region) Tamils spread across the south and central parts of the island, and Muslims. The main message that political sources took out from the meetings was that Mr Doval reportedly told the leaders that Tamil parties, which are currently grappling with internal divisions, can strengthen their position in national politics by working together with a coherent position. Mr Doval reportedly remarked that in a democracy, it is “numbers that matter”, said a Colombo-based political source who requested anonymity. the hindu On Friday.
Mr Doval also met Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardene on Thursday. According to a press statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, apart from key areas of bilateral cooperation, partnerships including private sector participation in the energy sector were also discussed.
India has agreed to develop several power projects in Sri Lanka under the LNG and renewable energy initiatives. On Thursday, Indian High Commissioner to Colombo Santosh Jha handed over the first payment for India-backed hybrid energy projects in Delft, Nainativu and Analamitivu islands off the Jaffna peninsula. Initiative displaced a similar enterprise in China Funding was agreed to.
In addition, Adani Green Energy has committed more than $440 million to a wind power project in northern Sri Lanka. This project is now facing a major crisis. Legal challenge There was opposition locally due to environmental concerns.
“Mr Doval said that in the long run, Sri Lanka can generate more power than its domestic requirement and derive huge financial benefits by selling the excess power to India. He pointed out that Bhutan is selling huge amount of power generated from hydropower to India and this is the biggest revenue source for that country,” Prime Minister Gunawardene’s office said in a statement.
security conference
Meanwhile, the member countries of the Colombo Security Conference (CSC) – Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Maldives and Mauritius – on Friday signed the charter and memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish the CSC Secretariat.
Described as a regional “minilateral”, the group seeks to focus on security in the Indian Ocean region in the face of China’s growing influence.
Bangladesh was not represented at the time of signing, the official statement said. Mr Doval was accompanied by Maldives NSA Ibrahim Latheef, Mauritius High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Hemandoyal Dillum, NSA to the President of Sri Lanka Sagala Ratnayake signed the documents on behalf of the member countries, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.