Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Colombo, seen with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said India and Sri Lanka need to find a long term solution to the fishermen's issue, which he noted involved livelihood and humanitarian considerations on both sides. He also said fishermen's organisations from the two countries need to have another round of meetings soon to find a mutually acceptable solution.
Mr Modi's comments came as part of a joint press statement with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in Colombo on Friday. Mr Modi landed in Colombo early this morning as part of his tour of three island nations in the Indian Ocean. His is the first standalone visit to Sri Lanka by an Indian Prime Minister in 28 years, the last being Rajiv Gandhi's visit in 1987.
Mr Modi touched upon other issues of mutual interest. "India has conveyed admiration on the efforts by President Maithripala Sirisena to build an inclusive future for Sri Lanka. It is a new journey of peace, reconciliation and progress. We stand with you to build future that accommodates all sections, including Tamils, for peace, justice and equality in Sri Lanka," he said. He also expressed a wish to see the implementation of the 13th Amendment, which deals with the devolution of powers to the Tamil community.
Both sides also inked four agreements following delegation level talks between Modi and Sirisena.
The agreements are for exemption from visa for holders of diplomatic passports, cooperation in mutual assistance in customs, an MoU for youth development, and another for establishing a museum dedicated to Rabindranath Tagore.
Mr Modi also said India would introduce visa on arrival for Sri Lankan tourists starting from April 14, the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, and that Air India would introduce more services between Delhi and Colombo. He also spoke about developming the 'Ramayana Trail' in Sri Lanka and the 'Buddhist Trail' in India.