Sri Lanka was hit by a catastrophic financial crisis in 2022.
Colombia:
Sri Lanka’s Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena described New Delhi as a “close associate” and a “trustworthy friend” of Colombo on Friday and thanked India on Friday for the financial assistance it provided to the island nation when it came under an unprecedented economic crisis last year. crisis faltered.
Sri Lanka was hit by a catastrophic financial crisis in 2022, the worst since independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe shortage of foreign exchange reserves. While the country was struggling and mired in the throes of the crisis, India last year provided multiple aid of about $4 billion through multiple lines of credit and currency support, in line with India’s Neighborhood First policy.
Speaking at the gala dinner reception hosted here for Indian Travel Congress delegates, Abeywardena said India “saved us” during the financial crisis, otherwise there would have been “another massacre for all of us”.
At the evening reception, the Speaker thanked India for the assistance rendered to the poor nation and recalled the civilizational ties and similarities between the two countries and their cultures.
“Sri Lanka and India are very, very closely linked countries, culturally, nationally and policy-wise, and above all, India has been a very close ally and trusted friend of Sri Lanka,” said Abeywardena, adding that when “we were in the problems”, India always helped. “And even this time, today, I heard that India is willing to extend our loan restructuring for 12 years. Never expected, and never in history, no country has provided that kind of assistance,” he said.
He recalled India’s helping hand during the rough patch last year that devastated the Sri Lankan economy and plunged it into a debt crisis.
“I have to tell you, during the troubles we had last year, you (India) saved us, India saved us, otherwise there would have been another massacre for all of us. So that’s how India came to help us,” Abeywardena said .
He made the remarks in the presence of India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay, Sri Lankan Tourism and Lands Minister Harin Fernando, and other senior officials of the Sri Lankan government.
‘Your ambassador here, (a) very good friend of ours. We love and respect him,” the Speaker said, referring to Baglay.
Abeywardena noted the similarity between the Indian surname Singh and the Sri Lankan surname Singhe, claiming that “it shows that we are genetically linked to India”.
“In that way, India is not a new country for us. It is part of our country’s ethos, part of our life, part of our heart,” he said, adding: “We are here to receive you , to respect you, to join with you.” “Together we (Sri Lanka) can join you (India) with great confidence without any effort or hesitation,” the speaker said.
In his speech, Fernando presented Sri Lanka, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, as a unique destination for India and the rest of the world. another.”
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