11 February 2024 04:13 pm Views - 1200
He told a news conference that India had invited them for a 10-day visit and that the NPP had to cut it short to five days due to their planned party activities.
"The invitation from India came in December last year for a ten-day visit. But, we had to defer the visit due to our tight schedule and wanted to restrict it to five days," he said.
The MP said this was not the first diplomatic level invitation to the NPP and added that NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and a delegation visited China in a similar manner.
“The visit to China was not given much publicity as for the Indian visit. I think people may have seen our Indian visit as important due to our previous stance on India,” he said.
When asked whether India had assured support to the NPP in future elections, he said no such matter was discussed or any requests made in that regard.
“Countries support governments that are elected by the people. They don’t support political parties to obtain power,” he said.
Responding to a question whether the NPP has changed its policy on Indian investors such as Adani and Amul, he said the NPP protested against investors being selected under unsolicited proposals.
He said an NPP government will welcome investors from any country and added that the investment process will occur in a transparent manner and due tender procedures.
Commenting on the visit, he said it was successful and that an NPP government will put into practice most of what they had learnt during the visit.