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CLAT 2021 21 Year Experienced Team

Prime Minister of Pakistan Visited Sri Lanka

This is also the first visit by a Head of the State in Sri Lanka after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
f The Prime Minister of Pakistan invited Sri Lanka to utilize the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to
improve trade ties and to get access to resource-rich Central Asia.

f China is the leading trade and investment partner of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's proximity with China and
Pakistan pose a threat to our security, integrity and national interest.

f Earlier, Sri Lanka had declared to follow 'India first' policy. New Delhi reiterated that Sri Lanka is India's
'priority one' defence partner.
Importance of Sri Lanka:
f Strategic location: The island-nation is strategically positioned location at the centre of the Indian
Ocean region. Cooperation with Sri Lanka is critical while India aims to project itself as 'net security
provider' in the Indian ocean region.
f Issues of Tamil sentiment: The Tamils in India shares deep emotional, fraternal and cultural ties with
the Tamil minority population in Sri Lanka. Often, New Delhi's approach towards Sri Lanka is guided by the
regional politics and local Tamil sentiment.
f Regional support: Both countries have acknowledged the increasing convergence on regional and
international issues of mutual engagement within the frameworks the United Nations system, the World
trade organisation or the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). Both are part of regional organisations
such as (SAARC), South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme, South Asian Economic Union and
BIMSTEC.
f Colombo port: The transhipment port serves as an important terminal in India's overseas trade due to
its strategic location in the Indian Ocean.
f Combat piracy, drug trafficking and terrorism: New Delhi needs support from Colombo to combat
terrorism and drug trafficking. The joint effort includes gathering of intelligence, information sharing, de-
radicalization and capacity building.

Present state of relation:
f Trade and Investment: India is one of the largest investors in Sri Lanka with cumulative investments of
around USD 1 billion. Sri Lanka is one of India's largest trading partner in SAARC. The India-Sri Lanka Free
Trade Agreement came into force in 2000. In 2018, the bilateral trade amounted to around 5 billion US
Dollar.
f Development assistance: Sri Lanka is among the major recipients of development assistance from the
Government of India. India's overall commitment stands close to 3 billion US Dollar, out of which around
560 million US dollar are in grants. The Indian Housing Project is Government of India (GoI)'s flagship
project of developmental assistance to Sri Lanka. India built 50,000 houses for the war affected as well as
the estate workers in the plantation areas.

f Joint Working group on Fishermen issue: The group has made progress in areas such as co-
operation on patrolling, setting up of a Hotline between two Coast Guards, introduction of effective
tracking systems for fishing vessels, release of Indian boats in Sri Lankan custody, SOPs for release and
handing over of arrested fishermen and measures to phase out bottom trawling in Palk Bay.

f Human resource development: Under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Scheme and
the Colombo Plan, India offers short and medium term training courses in a wide variety of technical and

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