Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister of Finance, was on a three-day official visit to Sri Lanka from 1st to 3rd November 2023.
As a part of the visit, She had call-on meetings with Ranil Wickremesinghe, President of Sri Lanka and Dinesh Gunawardena, Prime Minister (PM) of Sri Lanka.
During her visit,
- Addressed the ‘NAAM 200’ organised to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the arrival of India-origin Tamils (IOTs) to Sri Lanka.
- She inaugurated two State Bank of India (SBI) branches in Sri Lanka.
- Addressed the India-Sri Lanka Business Summit at Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Finance Minister Inaugurated 2 SBI branches in Sri Lanka
During her visit from 1st to 3rd November, Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated SBI branches in Trincomalee (Eastern Province ) and Jaffna (Northern Provinces) in Sri Lanka.
- With these 2 new branches, the total number of SBI branches in Sri Lanka becomes 7.
Key People:
The ceremony was attended by Gopal Baglay (Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka), Dinesh Khara (Chairman of SBI) and Senthil Thondaman (Governor, Eastern Province).
Points to note:
The SBI is the first foreign bank in Sri Lanka to successfully launch pathbreaking direct LKR(Sri Lankan Rupee)-INR(Indian Rupee) trade
During the recent economic crisis in Sri Lanka, The Government of India provided USD 1 billion in assistance to Sri Lanka through SBI.
“NAAM 200” – 200th Anniversary of IOTs to Sri Lanka:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered the keynote address as Guest of Honor at the “NAAM 200” organized by the Government of Sri Lanka to commemorate the 200th anniversary of IOTs to Sri Lanka on November 2 in Colombo.
- The event was attended by Ranil Wickremesinghe, President of Sri Lanka, Dinesh Gunawardena, PM of Sri Lanka and other dignitaries.
Key Points:
i.Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman virtually headed the foundation stone laying ceremony for 10,000 houses under the Indian Housing Project’s phase 4.
ii.She also dedicated the Thondaman Vocational Training Centre, upgraded under Indian assistance.
India-Sri Lanka Business Summit:
India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also addressed the India-Sri Lanka Business Summit held at Hotel Taj Samudra in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
- The summit was jointly organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries(CII), the Indo-Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
The theme of the Summit was ”Enhancing Connectivity: Partnering for Prosperity”.
Highlights of the Finance Minister’s Visit:
i.Union Finance Minister of India witnessed the exchange of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Solar Electrification of Religious Places in Sri Lanka. India will allocate Rs 82.40 crores out of the Government of India(GoI) grant assistance of Rs 107.47 crore for the promotion of Buddhist sites.
ii.During the meeting with Ranil Wickremesinghe (President of Sri Lanka), Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman assured that India would continue to collaborate with Sri Lanka on matters pertaining to debt restructuring. Union Finance Minister underlined various collaborations between India and Sri Lanka which will further help to strengthen economic partnership, promotion of trade, investment, tourism and people-to-people ties.
- FM also emphasized on cooperation in inter-grid connectivity, aviation, power projects, oil exploration in the north town of Mannar.
FM of India announced to soon launch UPI in Sri Lanka
While laying a new roadmap for technology, economic cooperation with Sri Lanka, FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced that a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payment system will soon be launched in Sri Lanka.
- She also reiterated that India is committed to supporting Sri Lanka on its path to economic recovery and would offer financial assistance of over USD 4 billion to it.
- The introduction of the UPI payment system in Sri Lanka will also provide a modern, efficient and secure platform for digital transactions, benefitting both countries in their economic development.
12th Round of Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement
India and Sri Lanka held the 12th Round of negotiations on the ETCA (Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement) in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 30th October to 1st November 2023.
- The Indian delegation was led by Anant Swarup (Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce) as Chief Negotiator for India.
- The India- Sri Lanka ETCA will prove to play a pivotal role to further enhance bilateral trade between two countries.
Points to note:
Negotiations for the ETCA were resumed after a hiatus of 5 years. Earlier, they had held 11 rounds of bilateral talks from 2016 to 2018.
Both sides engaged in discussions on various chapters including: Trade in goods, Technical barriers to trade, Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures, Trade remedies and dispute settlement and identified the areas of convergence and areas where they need to find creative solutions.
About Ministry of Finance:
Union Minister- Nirmala Sitharaman (Rajya Sabha- Karnataka)
Minister of State(MoS): Pankaj Chaudhary; Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad
About Sri Lanka:
President- Ranil Wickremesinghe
Capital- Jayawardenepura Kotte(Legislative Capital); Colombo(Judicial and Executive Capital)
Currency- Sri Lankan Rupee
About State Bank of India (SBI):
Chairman- Dinesh Kumar Khara
Founded- 1st July,1955
Headquarters- Mumbai, Maharashtra
Tagline- Pure Banking Nothing Else
