India and its neighborhood- relations.

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INDIA SRI LANKA RELATIONS

Background of India Sri Lanka Relations

India has ancient links with Sri Lanka since the rule of Emperor Ashoka. The relationship between the two countries has built upon a legacy of:

In recent years, the relationship has been marked by the following:

Conflicts in India Sri Lanka Relations

Despite cordial relations in the past, contemporary relations have been plagued by many incidents that have strained the cordial relations between the two nations.
The main factors which have contributed to the strained relations between the two countries are:

India Sri Lanka Issue – The Fishermen Issue

Arrest of Indian fishermen on the Sri Lankan side of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) in the Palk Straits and the Gulf of Mannar by Sri Lankan authorities has been a long-standing problem with the Sri lankan Navy firing on Indian fishing vessels.
The catch on the Sri Lankan side is better both in terms of quality (high-value prawns) and quantity. The issue started because of Indian fishermen having used mechanised trawlers, which deprived the Sri Lankan fishermen (including Tamils) of their catch and damaged their fishing boats.
The Sri Lankan government wants India to ban use of mechanized trawlers in the Palk Strait region, and negotiations on this subject are undergoing.
So far, no concrete agreement has been reached since India favours regulating these trawlers instead of banning them altogether.

India-Sri Lanka Commercial Relations

Sri Lanka has long been a priority destination for direct investment from India.
Sri Lanka is one of India’s largest trading partners in SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation).
Trade between the two countries grew particularly rapidly after the entry into force of the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement in March 2000.
According to Sri Lankan Customs, bilateral trade in 2018 amounted to US $ 4.93 billion.
Exports from India to Sri Lanka in 2018 were US$ 4.16billion, while exports from Sri Lanka to India are US$ 767 million.
The main items of exports from Sri Lanka to India are: Base Oil, Poultry feeds, Areca nuts, (waste and scrap) paper or paperboard, Pepper, Ignition Wiring Sets, Copper wire, Marble, travertine and alabaster.
Main items of Imports from India to Sri Lanka are: Gas oil/ Diesel, Motorcycles, Pharmaceutical Products, Portland cement, Semi finished products of Iron, Military weapon, Fuel oil, Rice, Cement clinkers, Kerosene Type jet Fuel.
India is one of the largest investors in Sri Lanka with cumulative investments of around USD 1.239 billion.
The investments are in diverse areas including petroleum retail, IT, financial services, real estate, telecommunication, hospitality & tourism, banking and food processing (tea & fruit juices), copper and other metal industries), tires, cement, glass manufacturing, and infrastructure development (railway, power, water supply).

India Sri Lanka – Development Cooperation

Sri Lanka is among the major recipients of development assistance from the Government of India.India’s overall commitment stands close to US$ 3 billion, out of which around US$ 560 million are purely in grants.
The Indian Housing Project, with an initial commitment to build 50,000 houses for the war affected as well as the estate workers in the plantation areas, is Government of India (GoI)’s flagship project of developmental assistance to Sri Lanka.
With an overall commitment of over Indian rupees (INR) 1372 crore in grants, it is one of the largest projects undertaken by GoI abroad.
At the moment, all the committed 46,000 houses in the Northern and Eastern Provinces have been completed.

India – Sri Lanka (Security Co-operation)

Sri Lankan military personnel are trained by India.
Joint Military training exercise between Indian Army and Sri Lankan Army was conducted from December 1 to 14, 2019 at Foreign Training Node (FTN) in Pune.
This military training exercise between Indian Army and Sri Lankan Army is known as ‘Mitra Shakti.’ ‘Mitra Shakti 2019’ was the 7th edition of the Joint Military training between Indian and Sri Lankan Army.
The focus was on achieving the desired level of interoperability and cohesive operational ability of the troops from both India and Sri Lanka through mutual exchange of operational experience and best practices.
India has exported Military hardware to Sri Lanka.
7th Bilateral Maritime Exercise between Indian Navy and Sri Lankan Navy was held from 7th September 2019 to 12th September 2019.
It was a 6 day joint exercise conducted off the coast of Visakhapatnam. Indian Navy was represented by ‘INS Khukri’ and Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel ‘INS Sumedha.’
The Sri Lankan Navy was represented by Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel SLNS Sindhurala and SLNS Suranimala.
This regularly conducted Maritime Exercise between Indian Navy and Sri Lankan Navy is known as ‘SLINEX.’

SOURCE:THE HINDU ,ECONOMIC TIMES

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