By Sudha Ramachandran

February 26, 2015

"Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena's recent visit to India was aimed at mending bilateral relations that had deteriorated under his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, on account of the latter's close embrace of China. During Sirisena's visit, India and Sri Lanka signed four agreements that are expected to strengthen bilateral co-operation. However, whether these can counter effectively China's enormous presence in the island seems doubtful. India is still a long way from matching or reducing China's role in Sri Lanka.

Of the four agreements, the most significant is that on civilian nuclear co-operation, which envisages an "exchange of knowledge and expertise, sharing of resources, capacity building and training of personnel in peaceful uses of nuclear energy." Other agreements deal with co-operation in the fields of culture and agriculture, and will enable Sri Lanka to participate in the Nalanda University project. The two sides also agreed to expand defense and security co-operation."

Read more:
http://thediplomat.com/2015/02/a-new-era-for-india-sri-lanka-relations/

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