Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India, S. M. Krishna, commenced a three day visit to Sri Lanka yesterday.

External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris received his Indian counterpart at the Bandaranaike International Airport. Officials of the Indian High Commission of Sri Lanka were at the airport to welcome the Indian Minister.

This visit, which is the first high level visit from India in the second term of President Mahinda Rajapaksa follows up on the important visit to India from 8-11 June 2010 by the President, which has laid a strong foundation for the future development of India-Sri Lanka relations.

The Joint Statement issued during President Rajapaksa’s visit embodies the vision of the leaders of Sri Lanka and of India for harnessing the enormous potential available for consolidating and strengthening the bilateral partnership through building on shared values; leveraging common strategic concerns and interests; enhancing connectivity and economic engagement and reinforcing institutional frameworks for a comprehensive partnership in all areas of bilateral endeavour.

A key event that will take place during the Indian Minister's visit is the convening of the Seventh Session of the India – Sri Lanka Joint Commission which is co-chaired by Minister S.M. Krishna on behalf of India and Minister G.L. Peiris on behalf of Sri Lanka. This will provide the two countries an opportunity to review the growing ties between Sri Lanka and India; monitor implementation of bilateral understandings and further enhance the bilateral relations. Several bilateral agreements will also be signed during the visit.

The Indian External Affairs Minister is also scheduled to inaugurate the Consulate General Offices of India in Jaffna and in Hambantota.

He will also call on President Mahinda Rajapaksa and on Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne.

Meanwhile, during a brief interaction with reporters accompanying him on board a special aircraft, Indian External Affairs Minister said India would "certainly propose to Indian investors to take a look at Sri Lanka as one of the favourable investment destination."

He also said that Sri Lanka has assured India that the remaining IDPS will be resettled by the end of this year.

"At one point of time it (the number of displaced civilians) was around 3 lakhs and over a period of time it has come down and now our assessment is there are about 17,000-20,000 IDPs in the camps," Indian Minister said.

He said India and Sri Lanka could enhance bilateral cooperation in areas like economy, connectivity, tourism and knowledge industry.
"We hope to intensify our trade and investments as we recover from the global recession," he said.