Sri Lanka provides 5-yr visas to Indian biz leaders to promote investment

Sri Lankan Minister Dhammika Perera handed 5-year visas to Indian business leaders in the island nation to promote investment in the country.

Taking to Twitter, Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka said, "Hon'ble Minister @_dhammikaperera handing over 5-year visas to #Indian business leaders in #SriLanka!! This is a welcome step in enhancing ease of business and promoting investments in Sri Lanka."

Earlier on Wednesday, the Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay met Sri Lanka's Trade Minister and discussed diverse facets of the trade.

"High Commissioner met Minister for Trade Hon'ble Nalin Fernando today. They discussed diverse facets of bilateral trade, such as increasing trade volume, creating platforms to facilitate business linkages between India and Sri Lanka," Indian Embassy in Sri Lanka tweeted.

India always comes forward to help Sri Lanka during its economic crisis. India has sent assistance worth several billion US dollars to rescue the money-strapped Sri Lankan government accompanied by shiploads of humanitarian aid, cooking gas, large quantities of fuel, and medicinal supplies.

On June 3, High Commissioner to Colombo Gopal Baglay handed over a total of 3.3 tons of essential medical supplies to the 1990 Suwaseriya Ambulance Service.

Baglay said that Jaishankar was apprised of the looming shortage of medical supplies faced by the Foundation during his visit to the Suwaseriya Headquarters in Colombo in March 2022.

India's assistance to Sri Lanka includes the massive USD 03 Billion credit line assistance, the 40,000 metric tons of diesel, shipments of rice, milk powder, and medicinal drugs all worth Rs 2 Billion. Further, 40,000 metric tons of petrol and 400,000 metric tons of cooking gas also arrived from India.

These humanitarian supplies are in continuation of the Government of India's ongoing support to the people of Sri Lanka in multiple forms such as financial assistance, forex support, material supply and many more. These efforts prove that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Neighborhood First' policy which places people-to-people engagement is still active. These are complemented by the people of India who have also been donating generously to their brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka, according to the Colombo Page.

Besides the humanitarian and monetary assistance, India also extended USD 15 million to the Sri Lankan Government for promoting Buddhist religious activities, states Sathipattana. India's generosity has made every Sri Lankan citizen, and every political party shower praises for its benevolence.

India is becoming a stronger and more mutually beneficial partner to Sri Lanka. Apart from assistance during the pandemic and fertilizer chaos, India is also donating basic products to island nations.