Author: India Writes Network

New bounce in India-Sri ties: 4 pacts, $318 million for railways, currency swap

- by India Writes Network

Imparting a renewed momentum to their bilateral ties, India and Sri Lanka have signed four agreements in areas of visa, customs, youth development and culture during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to the island country.
Mr Modi also pledged support for making Trincomalee into a petroleum hub and announced that New Delhi will provide a fresh Line of Credit of up to $ 318 million for the development of the railways sector in Lanka. India also agreed to a ‘Currency Swap Agreement’ of $1.5 billion to help keep the Sri Lankan economy stable.
Mr Modi held wide-ranging talks with Sri Lankan President MaithripalaSirisena in Colombo on March 13 that saw the two leaders charting a roadmap for galvanising their multifaceted ties. The four pacts, signed after the talks, included providing facility of travelling without visa to diplomats, cooperation in customs, youth development, and for establishing a Rabindranath Tagore museum.
The India-Sri Lanka relations had languished during the last few years of the MahindaRajapaksa presidency due to his overtly pro-China policies. Mr Sirisena underlined his intention known of building robust relations with New Delhi by making India his first foreign visit within weeks of taking charge as the president of the island nation.

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India Recalibrates its Indian Ocean Strategy

- by India Writes Network

The new Indian government, probably for the first time, seems to be recalibrating its stance towards adopting a structured policy towards the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), which hitherto carried no more significance than an anagrammatic similarity between the region and the country. The pre-election promise of the Sagar Mala Project in BJP manifesto, the push to demilitarise the Indian Ocean (IO) through the Galle Dialogue in 2014, Prime Minister’s heightened focus on its littoral neighbours, and most recently Prime Minister Modi’s visit to three island countries (Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka), which did not figure prominently in India’s regional geopolitical calculus, corroborate India’s intended policy seriousness towards the IOR.

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India’s game-changing move: $500 million for Mauritius

- by India Writes Network

In a game-changing move that provides fresh ballast to New Delhi’s Indian Ocean maritime diplomacy, India has unveiled $500 million as concessional Line of Credit to Mauritius for a host of infrastructure projects as the two countries signed five agreements, including a key pact on ocean economy.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Mauritian counterpart Anerood Jugnauth on March 11 during the second leg of his three-nation visit.

“I consider our security cooperation to be a cornerstone of our strategic partnership. We intend to quickly build the petroleum storage and bunkering facility in Mauritius,” Mr Modi said after the talks.

Mauritius looms large in New Delhi’s enhanced Indian Ocean diplomacy matrix. Mauritius’ then Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam was the only non-SAARC leader to be invited for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Modi in May 2014.

Mr Modi has bene honoured by being invited as the chief Guest at the National Day celebrations of Mauritius on March 12, a historic day that also marks the launch of the salt satyagraha by Mahatma Gandhi 85 years ago. In the morning, he has extended his wishes to the citizens of Mauritius.

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