New Delhi, Oct. 4: Foreign Secretary of India Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Monday said it is important for India and Sri Lanka to jointly combat the adverse impact of Covid by deepening their economic partnership. In this respect, he identified connectivity between the two countries as a thrust area.

“As we seek rapid socio-economic recovery for our countries, it is important to work together to strengthen our economic partnership and deepen our time-tested bilateral ties founded on the principles of mutual benefit, understanding and a common purpose defined by good neighbourly relations,” he said while virtually inaugurating projects from Temple Trees, the official residence of Sri Lankan Prime Minister after having met PM Mahinda Rajapaksa.

“With the easing of the situation in Sri Lanka, it may be opportune for us to work on connectivity initiatives such as the Jaffna to Chennai flight, ferry services between Karaikal and Kankesanthurai and Dhanushkodi and Talaimanar, and the Buddhist corridor with the new international airport at Kushinagar,” he suggested.

The Indian Foreign Secretary’s message to Colombo, which is in deep financial trouble, was that India will “leave no stone unturned in mitigating the adverse impact of the pandemic restrictions on our socio-economic engagement and will stand together with Sri Lanka in its efforts for the post-Covid recovery”.

The Foreign Secretary had arrived in Sri Lanka on Saturday on a four-day visit. On Sunday, he had visited two regions of Sri Lanka — Kandy in the Central Highlands and the Tamil-dominated northern towns of Trincomalee and Jaffna. In Kandy, Shringla had visited the famous Temple of the Tooth and in the formerly war-town north, he inaugurated Indian development projects.

Shringla said the virtual summit between PMs Narendra Modi and Rajapaksa in September last year was an important milestone as it set the template for future evolution of cooperation in defence and security, health, tourism, trade and commerce and people-to-people ties.-Agencies