Basil loses chance to meet Indian PM

7 January 2022 02:01 pm Views - 3023

Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa will miss the opportunity to have a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat global investor summit since the event was postponed due to the surge in Covid numbers.

A meeting had been planned between the Minister and the Indian leader on the sidelines of the event. It was slated to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 10.

During the two-day official meeting between December 1 and 2, last year, Minister Rajapaksa had two rounds of joint discussions with his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. He also had direct bilateral discussions with the External Affairs Minister Jaishankar.

He also met with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and National Security Advisor of India Ajit Kumar Doval as well.

The two countries agreed on cooperation on four pillars-food and health security package on urgent basis, energy security package, facilitation of Indian investment and assistance for foreign exchange crisis. (Kelum Bandara)