Speaking at the India-Srilanka virtual summit on Saturday, Srilankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa thanked India for its support in dousing a major fire on board an oil tanker carrying crude oil from Kuwait and said that it provided an opportunity for greater cooperation between the two countries. Meanwhile, PM Modi emphasised on ‘the neighbourhood first approach,’ adding that the relation between India and Sri Lanka is thousands of years old.

“According to my government’s neighbourhood first policy and SAGAR doctrine, we give special priority to relations between the two countries,” PM Modi said. He also congratulated Rajapaksa for being elected as Prime Minister.

This is PM Modi’s first virtual engagement with a neighbouring country and Rajapaksa’s first diplomatic engagement with a leader of a foreign country after he was sworn in as PM. Rajapaksa was sworn in as Sri Lankan prime minister for a fresh term on August 9 after his party, the Sri Lanka People’s Front, secured a two-third majority in the parliamentary polls.

It was learnt that the two leaders deliberated on a host of issues like ways to further deepen overall defence and trade ties as well as expansion of existing cooperation in several key areas.