Jaishankar meets ex-Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, discusses boosting bilateral ties

Colombo [Sri Lanka], Nov 20 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa here on Tuesday and discussed ways of giving a thrust to the bilateral relations between the two countries.
"External Affairs Minister of India, @DrSJaishankar paid a courtesy call to me last evening. Strengthening of the already existing bilateral relations between our two nations was discussed," Rajapaksa tweeted on Wednesday.
His son Namal Rajapaksa was also present during the meeting.
Jaishankar on Tuesday said that Sri Lanka's newly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation to visit India on November 29.
The External Affairs Minister made the announcement after meeting the Sri Lankan leader here, a day after the latter took oath as the island country's seventh president.
"A warm meeting with Sri Lanka President @GotabayaR. Conveyed PM @narendramodi's message of a partnership for shared peace, progress, prosperity and security. Confident that under his leadership, India-Sri Lanka relations would reach greater heights," Jaishankar had tweeted.
70-year old Gotabaya Rajapaksa defeated United National Party (UNP) candidate Sajith Premadasa by more than 13 lakh votes in the recently concluded presidential elections, the country's election commission said on Sunday.
He is the second member of the Rajapaksa family to become the president. His older brother Mahinda Rajapaksa served as president from 2005 to 2015. (ANI)