COLOMBO:
Sri Lanka will host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week, an official said on Monday, as Colombo grapples with the competing interests of its powerful northern neighbour and China, its largest lender.
A member of leftist President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s office said Modi will be the first foreign head of government to visit the island nation under the new administration.
“It must be recalled that President Dissanayake’s first foreign visit after his election in September was to New Delhi in December,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
He said Modi was due to hold bilateral talks on April 5 and travel to the northern Buddhist pilgrimage city of Anuradhapura before returning the following day.
Dissanayake travelled to Beijing in January for his second foreign visit as president, underscoring Sri Lanka’s delicate balancing act of maintaining ties with the two regional rivals.
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