Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will visit Sri Lanka from October 7-8 – his first visit to the country since taking office, last year, and closely follows the successful completion of the provincial council elections in the island-nation.
During this visit, he will meet Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, G. L. Peiris in Colombo, following which, he will travel to Jaffna, and the governor and chief minister of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province.
Apart from reviewing bilateral trade, investment and development cooperation, Khurshid will take up the issue of detention of Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan authorities. Both sides are also expected to address issues regarding the Sampur Thermal Power Project and aspects of Indian technical assistance to Sri Lanka.
The Sri-Lankan government is expected to seek confirmation from Khurshid that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), scheduled to be held in Colombo, in November. This comes at a time when the Indian Prime Minister is under pressure from the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) – in India’s southernmost state of Tamil Nadu – to skip the meeting.