The President and his entourage left for New Delhi yesterday. He is expected to hold talks with Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the visit. He is also expected to meet Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe met Prime Minister Modi on multiple occasions in different capacities in the past. They met thrice in Sri Lanka in 2015, 2017 and 2019 and five times in India when President Wickremesinghe visited India as Prime Minister in 2015, 2016, April in 2017, November in 2017 and 2018.

The source said India extended ‘unprecedented support’ to Sri Lanka in 2022. India was also the first official bilateral creditor of Sri Lanka to convey written financing assurances to International Monetary Fund (IMF), which paved the way for the IMF package