http://www.news.lk/news/sri-lanka/i...-external-affairs-of-india-to-visit-sri-lanka
http://www.newindianexpress.com/cit...Lanka-This-Week/2016/02/04/article3261086.ece
Indo-Lankan Issues
The Ninth Session of the India-Lanka Joint Commission, co-chaired by Swaraj and Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, will discuss economic cooperation, trade, power and energy, technical and maritime cooperation, social, cultural and educational matters, science and technology, defence cooperation, health, civil aviation, tourism, and people-to-people contact.
India and Lanka are working towards signing a landmark Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) in June. T
he ETCA will open up opportunities for Indian professionals in the Lankan IT and shipbuilding sectors. But the ETCA has received flak from Lankan professional and trade bodies allegedly for being unfair to Lanka.
India would like Lanka to speed up clearances for the 500 MW coal based power plant in Sampur in Eastern Lanka which has been in the doldrums since 2006. With US$ 400 earmarked for railway projects in Lanka, the Indian railway construction company IRCON is keen on bidding for upgrading three lines in Central Lanka. With the Lankan Air Force in need of replacing its ageing jet fighters,
India could push for the sale of “Tejas”. The Lankan side is expected to bring up the issue of destructive bottom trawling by poachers from Tamil Nadu off the northern coast.
When Swaraj calls on President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, she is expected to inquire about the devolution package for the minority Tamils. Through the UNHRC resolution, Lanka is committed to devolving power, with the India-inspired 13 th Constitutional Amendment as the benchmark.
Swaraj will sign two MoUs – one on renovating 27 schools in the Northern Province, and the other on building a surgical ward and supplying medical equipment to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital in the East.
