Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to meet PM Modi and hold bilateral talks

Newly elected Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived in New Delhi for his first State visit. President Rajapaksa is in India after PM Modi invited him to strengn ties between two countries. 

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First State visit

President Rajapaksa reached New Delhi on Thursday and will be in country for three days. He will be meeting PM Modi on Friday to start bilateral talks. 

A plethora of issues including fulfilling aspirations of Tamil community in Sri Lanka, situation in Indian Ocean region and steps to boost tre and investment ties are likely to figure in talks. Last week, India said that it was looking forward to working closely with new Sri Lankan government and hoped that it would be able to fulfill aspirations of Tamil community in that country. 

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Before leaving for India, he tweeted, "Leaving for my first state visit to India and looking forward to strengning bilateral relations with Shri Narendra Modi and Govt of India." And on landing, he thanked country for warm welcome. He will also be meeting his counterpart Ram Nath Kovind. 

70-year-old leer stormed to victory in Sri Lanka's presidential elections, results of which came on vember 17. He trounced his nearest rival Sajith Premasa by a margin of over 13 lakh votes - 52.25 per cent of votes polled against 41.99 per cent.

India's Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar also visited Sri Lanka soon after President Rajapaksha took over as President.

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(With inputs from PTI)