Colombo, 26 March (HS): On Sunday, a high-level Indian team paid a visit to Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and briefed him on advances in the mutually selected priority areas for bilateral partnership in the critical energy sector. When a team led by Pankaj Jain, Secretary, of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, met with President Wickremesinghe, he shared his ideas on the early execution of these efforts, according to the Indian High Commission here.
It stated that India will provide 500 solar-powered indoor cooking units to Sri Lanka. According to the Lanka India Oil Company (LIOC), the local operator of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the visiting Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Natural Gas Jain and Chairman IOC Shrikant Madhav Vaidya had previously visited the IOC terminal in Trincomalee, eastern Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka and India have a cooperative enterprise that stores fuel in Trincomalee’s World War II time storage tanks. Sri Lanka and India formally inked an agreement in January last year to jointly build the oil tank farms in Trincomalee. The joint venture was completed as fears about China’s influence on the island country grew.
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While addressing the chamber of commerce, Jain inaugurated three new LIOC retail fuel sheds in their continuing growth and attended a conference of chief executive officers of top Indian enterprises headquartered in Sri Lanka. IOC Chairperson Vaidya expressed his pleasure at meeting former Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga.
According to LIOC, the top-level Indian delegation on the petroleum industry would hold comprehensive conversations with Sri Lankan counterparts about future partnerships. During the country’s greatest economic crisis, LIOC gave significant aid to Sri Lankan fuel users.
Sri Lanka is entirely reliant on imported petroleum, which cost the cash-strapped government about $4 billion last year. The island country has been devastated by a devastating economic and humanitarian crisis brought on by years of mismanagement and a raging virus.
The IMF authorised a $3 billion rescue package earlier this week to assist Sri Lanka to overcome its economic crisis and catalyse financial support from other development partners, a move that Colombo hailed as a “historic milestone” at the critical moment.
Hindusthan Samachar/Abhishek Awasthi
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