India keenly looking forward to Minister Basil’s visit next week

Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa will visit India next week, the Indian High Commission in Colombo confirmed.

Taking to its official Twitter account, the High Commission stated that India keenly looks forward to welcoming the Sri Lankan Finance Minister next week.

His visit will consolidate ongoing efforts to further strengthen the economic partnership between India and Sri Lanka, the tweet read further.

Last week, a decision was reached during a telephone conversation between India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, and Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister for the latter to visit India later this month.

During the conversation, Jaishankar had assured that India would continue to support Sri Lanka in all possible ways.

During a virtual held in January this year, the two ministers reviewed the progress in extending the Indian credit facility of USD 1 billion for importing food, essential items, and medicine and USD 500 million for procuring fuel from India.

On March 10, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a notification to initiate the USD 500 million line of credit provided by India to Sri Lanka, to finance the purchase of petroleum products.

According to the RBI, out of the total credit by Exim Bank under the agreement, goods, works, and services of the value of at least 75 per cent of the contract price shall be supplied by the seller from India. The remaining 25 per cent of goods and services may be procured by the seller for the purpose of the eligible contract from outside India.

Keenly look forward to welcoming Hon'ble Finance Minister @RealBRajapaksa to #India next week. His visit will consolidate ongoing efforts to further strengthen 🇮🇳🇱🇰 economic partnership. pic.twitter.com/VR8Lfbsw99

— India in Sri Lanka (@IndiainSL) March 12, 2022