Suhasini Haidar,Meera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu

Minister Vijitha Herath says rebuilding the economy is new government’s biggest priority as he calls for more tourism, visa concessions from India

After his trip to India, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake will visit China next month, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said, while adding that the newly elected government wants win-win” ties with all countries.

A day after Mr. Dissanayake’s talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the President said that he would ensure that Sri Lankan territory is not used in any manner inimical to the security of India as well as towards regional stability”, Mr. Herath reaffirmed the commitment. On Tuesday, Mr. Dissanayake travelled to Bodh Gaya to offer prayers, and returned to Colombo.

As a new government, we hope to have a good relationship with China also, as well as India. And also with other countries like U.S., Russia, Cuba and North Korea…,” Mr. Herath told an audience at an event organised by the India Foundation in Delhi.

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After this first visit to India, our next visit is to China next month,” he said, indicating that the government would continue to seek support from both Delhi and Beijing, even as Mr. Dissanayake has clearly prioritised the Indian visit first.

On a visit to Jaffna last month, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong said that China welcomed” Mr. Dissanayake’s visit to India as it was a close neighbour” to Sri Lanka, adding that the visit by Mr. Dissanayake to Beijing would enhance [China-Lanka] traditional friendship, promote bilateral economic cooperation, and bring more benefits to our peoples”.

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Responding to questions in Delhi, Mr. Herath said that Sri Lanka’s first priority was to shore up its economic situation, restructure its debt package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, as well as push for new tourism inflows.

Reviving tourism

Mr. Herath, who is also the Minister of Tourism, explained that after hitting a peak of 2.5 million tourists in 2018, the Sri Lankan tourism industry had been dealt three successive blows — the Easter Sunday terror attacks in 2019, Covid pandemic in 2020-21, and the economic crisis and debt default in 2022.

He announced that the Dissanayake government would soon issue a gazette notification making visas free of charge for nationals of 39 countries including India, and called for India to reciprocate the measure, and to increase tourism in both countries.

Foreign vessels

Responding to questions at the event, Mr. Herath gave no clear indication on whether Sri Lanka would continue to allow foreign research vessels, particularly Chinese ships, to berth at Lankan ports after a one-year moratorium on all such research expeditions expires on December 31.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister said instead that there was a need to build a national policy” on the issue, and that a committee had been set up to look into it. India has consistently objected to Chinese vessels on research visits to Lankan ports, as it says the ships have a dual purpose” to also collect sensitive, strategic data in the Indian Ocean, a charge Beijing has denied.

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After the Modi-Dissanayake talks on Monday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that India had offered its own capacities and training to Sri Lanka to circumvent the need for other foreign vessels.

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To a question from The Hindu after the event, Mr. Herath said that the  Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) government would consider” the situation of Sri Lankan refugees living in India. Many of the refugees fled violence in the 1980s, are ineligible for citizenship in India and are unsure of their future in Sri Lanka. He said that while there were procedures in place for their repatriation, not all of them wish to return to the island nation.

According to the India-based Organisation for Eelam Refugees’ Rehabilitation, there are approximately 57,000 displaced persons living in 104 camps in Tamil Nadu, while about 34,000 others are settled in various cities in the State, outside the camps.