Sri Lankan Prime Minister to meet PM Modi today

New Delhi [India], Apr 26 (ANI): Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe, who arrived in the national capital yesterday on a five-day visit, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hold bilateral talks today. He is being accompanied by International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrema and Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa. The Sri Lankan Prime Minister arrived in Delhi with an expectation to finalise an MoU on developing energy and infrastructure projects in Trincomalee, as well as speeding up negotiations for the upgraded Free Trade Agreement -the ETCA (Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement). As per schedule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Sri Lankan counterpart will meet Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj at the Hotel Taj Palace. Thereafter, he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House at 1 p.m. At 4 p.m., he will meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the Hotel Taj Palace before concluding his engagements for the day. On Thursday, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister will emplane for a two-and-a-half day-long visit to Udaipur, Rajasthan, at 11.30 a.m. and attend several engagements there through Saturday. On Saturday afternoon, he will return to New Delhi and emplane for Colombo at 6.45 p.m. Before his visit, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister said that he is looking forward to strengthen economic cooperation with India. He said the development of eastern port district of Trincomalee will be discussed during the visit. Sri Lankan government has proposed to sign a MoU with India during visit of Prime minister Narendra Modi to Sri Lanka next month. The MoU proposes Indian investment in development of port and oil tank farms in Trincomalee, setting up of a LNG power plant and terminal, piped gas supply in capital Colombo, highway and railway projects in north and east of the country etc. The proposed Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) and the issue of fishermen between the two countries are also likely to figure in the discussions. Wickremesinghe will also hold discussions with Congress President Sonia Gandhi. (ANI)