India, Sri Lanka to sign defence pact during Modi visit amid growing Chinese clout

India and Sri Lanka are all set to sign a major pact on defence cooperation during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the island nation on April 4-6. This comes amid China’s increasing influence in the Indian Ocean Region.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had earlier indicated that the pact would mark a major shift in the trajectory of India-Sri Lanka relations. The finer details of the agreement, however, remain under wraps.

The proposed accord has come under fire from sections of Sri Lankans who feel it will cripple Colombo’s autonomy besides upsetting Beijing.

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The two countries began work on a framework agreement on defence cooperation after Sri Lankan President Anura Dissanayake visited New Delhi last December.

Restructuring debt

The two countries are expected to sign a host of other bilateral agreements, including the one between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to restructure debt and extend a currency swap pact.

Among major possibilities are a tripartite arrangement involving India, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates to develop the Trincomalee oil tank farm, and interconnection of power grids between India and Sri Lanka.

The areas that the planned MoUs will cover include the digital economy, health sector, energy connectivity, infrastructure as well as multi-sectoral grant assistance.

Adani project

Another major takeaway from Modi’s visit will be the inauguration of an India-assisted solar power project at Sampur in the eastern district of Trincomalee.

The prime minister will formally inaugurate work on the first phase of a 50 MW solar power project at Sampur. The second phase will add another 70 MW. The project will play a key role in addressing Sri Lanka’s energy needs.

The project, which was earlier meant to be coal-based, is an initiative between India's National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC) and Sri Lanka's Ceylon Electricity Board.

However, Modi’s visit is unlikely to end the deadlock over Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s green energy project, which has run into rough weather from the Dissanayake government over tariff. Adani has refused to cut the tariff but said the commitment to Sri Lanka’s development remained.

Focus on fishermen’s issues

Modi and Dissanayake are also expected to discuss the festering dispute between fishermen from Sri Lanka’s northern parts and Tamil Nadu that keeps resulting in periodic arrests of Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters.

Also read: TN fishermen, China could be Modi’s top priorities during Sri Lanka visit

The issue has sparked a lot of anger and anti-India sentiment in Sri Lanka whose Tamil fishermen complain that bottom trawlers from Tamil Nadu virtually destroy the marine wealth.

“The Tamil Nadu fishermen have caused serious livelihood issues for our fishermen,” a Sri Lankan Tamil leader, pleading anonymity, told The Federal. “Our fishermen have repeatedly taken to the streets. Unfortunately, India’s refusal to crack down on bottom trawling has led to a crisis.”

Tamils upset over visit

Meanwhile, sections of Sri Lanka’s Tamils, including its diaspora in Western countries, are not happy with Modi’s visit, which Dissanayake told Parliament is for the “stability of the country”.

A section of the Tamil diaspora, which still backs the now vanquished Tamil Tigers, wants Tamils to put pressure on India to ask Sri Lanka to close all military camps in the island’s northeast, support an UN-supervised referendum for “Tamil independence” and back an international investigation into “war crimes” that took place in 2008-09.

“The visit is expected to yield key outcomes that will elevate the India-Sri Lanka partnership to new heights,” Santosh Jha, India’s High Commissioner in Colombo, told the Daily Mirror newspaper in Colombo.

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India-Sri Lanka bilateral trade totalled $5.5 billion in 2023-24 and cumulative Indian investments stood at $2.2 billion. Both Indian and Sri Lankan officials admit there is a huge scope for improvement on both fronts.

India continues to play a crucial role in Sri Lanka's economic recovery after the country was hit by an unprecedented economic crisis in 2022, leading to the ouster of its then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and a tectonic shift in politics that finally catapulted Dissanayake to power.

Visit to Anuradhapura

Modi's itinerary will take him on April 6 to Anuradhapura where he and Dissanayake will pay obeisance at the Mahabodhi temple and launch two India-assisted projects, including a railway signalling system.

Anuradhapura, located about 200 km north of Colombo and just before the start of the Tamil-majority northern province, was the ancient capital of Sinhala kingdoms that was once destroyed by a Tamil Chola king from India. With its rich ruins of Buddhist temples and some of the largest stupas in the world, it is the religious heartland for Sinhalese-Buddhists.

This will be Modi’s second visit to Anuradhapura after 2015. He will be the second Indian leader after Jawaharlal Nehru to visit the place where Tamil Tiger guerrillas massacred scores of Buddhist devotees in 1985.

Talks with Dissanayake

After a formal welcome at the Independence Square in Colombo on April 5 morning, PM Modi will discuss bilateral issues with President Anura Dissanayake who stormed to power last year heading a Centre-Left government.

The prime minister will be accompanied on his Sri Lanka visit by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, besides the Indian foreign secretary.

Also read: Dissanayake's visit: China offers to invest USD 3.7 bn in oil refinery in Sri Lanka

Modi will also open online from Colombo a cold storage facility at Dambulla, some 150 km away in Matale district and Sri Lanka’s main hub for vegetable distribution, and solar power units donated to religious places.

He is also expected to meet leaders of the Sri Lankan political establishment, including Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya as well as the Opposition leaders.