India says ties with Lanka focused on reconciliation

India says its relationship?with Sri Lanka is?focused on national reconstruction and reconciliation in the country.

This was said by?Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar?while delivering the 21st International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) Fullerton Lecture in Singapore.

Jaishankar said that the ties with Sri Lanka after elections in both countries have increasingly focused on their national reconstruction and reconciliation.

On India’s relations with China, he said the changes are more nuanced, more complex but no less significant.

The standard narrative of Sino-Indian relations, however, remains focused on the border dispute and security issues, he said.

“The political settlement of the boundary question is obviously a complicated issue. But there is recognition today on both sides that peace and tranquillity on the border is an important guarantor for the development and continued growth of our bilateral relations,” he said.
Recalling Prime Minister Modi’s visit to China and his meeting with President Xi Jinping, he said the terminology agreed upon by the two countries to describe themselves were as “two major powers in the region and the world”.

The task which they have set for themselves is to pursue their national development goals and security interests in a mutually supportive manner. Clearly, that would happen only if they showed respect and sensitivity to each others’ concerns, interests and aspirations, he said.

He said after the Modi-Xi interaction in Xian, the mood today allows for frank and direct conversations between the leaderships. (Colombo Gazette)