Sri Lankan President Gotbaya meets with Modi today in India

(PTI) New Delhi, Ta. November 28, 2019, Thursday

Sri Lankan President Gotbaya Rajapaksa arrived on Thursday for a three-day visit to India as part of his first foreign trip, a week after he took office.

Gotbaya has visited India in honor of Prime Minister Modi's invitation. He will meet Prime Minister Modi on Friday. He has indicated for strengthening bilateral relations with India.

Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on Friday to deepen mutual relations between the two neighboring countries. Gotbaya will also meet with President Ram Nath Kovind in a three-day visit.

Gotbaya and Modi are believed to discuss a range of issues, including measures to address Tamil society concerns in Sri Lanka, border disputes in the Arabian Sea, and measures to encourage trade and investment.

It is worth mentioning that Gotabaya Rajapaksa is believed to have a pro-China mentality. Gotbaya, who served as Defense Secretary during the Civil War against the LTTE, made several anti-India statements in the past.

There has been speculation that China and Sri Lanka will come closer and that their distance with India will increase, with Gotbaya recently elected president in Sri Lanka.

However, after Gotbaya was elected last week, External Affairs Minister S. Modi as the special envoy to Prime Minister Modi. Jayashankar visited Colombo and congratulated Gotbaya on being elected president.

Meanwhile, before leaving for New Delhi, Gotbaya Rajapaksa tweeted that he was looking forward to strengthening bilateral relations with India.

"I look forward to strengthening bilateral relations with Shri Narendra Modi and the Government of India before leaving for my first foreign trip to India," he wrote.