New Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will visit New Delhi on November 29, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said after meeting him in Colombo on Tuesday, The Hindu reported. “President @GotabayaR has accepted PM @narendramodi ’s invitation to visit India on 29th November,” Jaishankar tweeted after meeting the new Sri Lankan president.
In another tweet, Jaishankar said he had a “warm meeting” with Rajapaksa. “Conveyed PM @narendramodi’s message of a partnership for shared peace, progress, prosperity & security,” Jaishankar said. “Confident that under his leadership, #IndiaSriLanka relations would reach greater heights.”
India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Taranjit Singh Sandhu was also present at the meeting, The Hindu reported.
Rajapaksa, a former defence secretary, became Sri Lanka’s new president after election results on Sunday showed he had defeated the ruling party’s candidate Sajith Premadasa by more than 13 lakh votes. Rajapaksa won 69.24 lakh votes, while Premadasa got 55.64 lakh votes.
Following this, Narendra Modi was among the first international leaders to wish Rajapaksa on his victory. “I look forward to working closely with you for deepening close and fraternal ties between our two countries and citizens, and for peace, prosperity as well as security in our region,” he had tweeted. Rajapaksa is the brother of former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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