Addressing media after bilateral discussions with the Indian delegation headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo today (March 13), he said India and Sri Lanka have a great historical link which has been strengthened with Buddhist philosophy for thousands of years.
The full text of statement:
India and Sri Lanka have a great historical link which has been strengthened with Buddhist philosophy for thousands of years. Similarly, there is also a long lasting relationship between the two countries on Hinduism, which shows a long historic background.
The great cultures of our two countries which were based on Buddhism and Hinduism have been together through thousands of years. We have seen the relationship between our countries weakened during the time of some regimes. As a result, it took 28 years for this visit of an Indian Prime Minister to Sri Lanka. We see this as a most fortunate event for the government and the people of Sri Lanka. We consider this visit of the Indian Prime Minister as a blessing both to the Government and people of Sri Lanka.
The achievements gained and the bilateral relations enhanced during my recent visit with my Ministers and other delegates to India, are being further strengthened and expanded due to the arrival of the Indian Prime Minister today in Sri Lanka, today.
The agreements that we have reached today on a wide range of cooperation that covers economic and trade relations, health, education, regional security, sea and air transportation and especially the development of the country, and my recent visit to India as well as Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Sri Lanka has turned a new page in the cooperation between our two countries.
We are well aware that in the world of technology the Indian state and the Indian people are at a high level of knowledge, achievement and resources in modern technology. We are a developing country. It is therefore, valuable to achieve understandings on research, training and development of physical resources from countries advanced in modern technology, trade and modern commerce in the competitive world that prevails today.
While extending my best wishes to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his delegation for this visit to Sri Lanka, I trust it will help to further improve current relations between the two countries and assist in taking the relationships with minority communities to greater heights.
He will be traveling to several places in our country today and tomorrow. I see his visit to Parliament this evening and to pay homage at the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura tomorrow, as well as the later visit to the North as historic occasions.
We invited him to address our Parliament as the highest honor we can confer on him. I conclude my statement by wishing that this visit and the signing of agreements today will help further strengthen the great historical ties between our two countries, and also strengthen in the most humanitarian way, the democracy and freedom that prevail in India and Sri Lanka, and contribute to the most fruitful relationship between our two countries in the future.
