On the occasion of the 64th Republic Day of India, I extend my warm greetings and good wishes to my fellow citizens of India and to the friendly people and the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

As we celebrate this occasion as another milestone in India’s journey as an independent nation-State, it is a time to take stock of the areas where we have done well and those where we could have performed better. As another year passes by, we have reason to be proud of our continuing commitment to individual freedoms, secularism and pluralism. Our civilizational ethos has been underpinned by peaceful coexistence and tolerance, values that Mahatma Gandhi placed at the core of India’s national life. These principles are enshrined in our Constitution that provides the foundation for our secular, democratic and inclusive polity.

Amid the continuing turmoil in many parts of the world, India’s stature as a functioning democracy and a factor of stability in our region and beyond remains tall and its institutional structure is resilient, despite challenges. The past year has shown in ample measure that India’s faith in its youth, and their ability to act as agents of social change, is not misplaced.

Our economy has not been immune to the vicissitudes of the global economy. However, I have no doubt that our strong economic fundamentals, backed by sound policies and the dynamism of our people, will enable us to return to a higher growth path sooner rather than later.  Government has taken a number of initiatives in recent months to reinvigorate a rapid growth trajectory that will meet our aspirations for inclusive and sustainable development for an increasingly young India.

India has been witness to many positive stories in recent years. These include the remarkable acceleration in the rate of poverty reduction, stronger growth in the less-developed states, improved productivity and increased real wages in our agriculture sector.  The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is a flagship poverty alleviation programme and responds to the needs of over 53 million poor rural households by guaranteeing 100 days of employment per year through public works. On January 1 this year, India took the first step towards revolutionizing assistance-delivery to poor beneficiaries through a process of direct cash transfer, using the digital ‘Aadhaar’ platform for unique identification numbers to all residents of India. This is a path-breaking reform to make growth more inclusive. Today, an increasingly empowered and vocal citizenry is demanding more responsive, participative and transparent governance.

On the external front, we have attached special importance to maintaining friendly ties with our neighbours. India believes in shared growth and prosperity of the region and invites her neighbours to be part of a collective success story by building new bridges of engagement.

The India-Sri Lanka relationship is special. Our deep social, cultural and popular bonds forged over centuries and shared interests and concerns provide a solid foundation for further strengthening of our extremely close and friendly relations. India is committed to being a partner of Sri Lanka in meeting its aspirations of peace, harmony, growth and development. Our relations are growing rapidly in all areas, political, trade and investment, security, education, sports and culture

People-to-people links constitute one of the cardinal pillars of our relationship. The successful organization of an island-wide exposition of Sacred Kapilavastu Relics bears testimony to the common cultural threads binding India and Sri Lanka. The exposition, witnessed by nearly 3.5 million devotees, was organized as part of the Joint Commemoration of the 2600th Anniversary of Enlightenment of Lord Buddha.

In another eloquent testimony to this fraternal bond, H.E. the President of Sri Lanka laid the foundation of University of Buddhist and Indic Studies at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, during his visit to India in September 2012.

Last year, our two countries marked the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore with great enthusiasm.  We have now agreed to jointly celebrate the 150th birth anniversaries of Swami Vivekananda in 2013-14 and of Anagarika Dharmapala in 2014-15.

Sri Lanka again topped the list of India’s trading partners in South Asia, and India was Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner globally, with bilateral trade crossing US$ 5 billion mark in 2011-12. India was the leading source country in terms of foreign tourist arrivals and foreign direct investment into Sri Lanka. I am happy that the growing engagement with India has facilitated creation of new capacities in the Sri Lankan economy in diverse sectors ranging from civil aviation and hospitality to ports and hospitals.

Similarly, there are striking success stories of Sri Lankan investment in India and Sri Lankan Airlines is one of the largest foreign airlines operating in India; over 250,000 Sri Lankans visited India last year.

The 8th session of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission, co-chaired by the External Affairs Ministers of India and Sri Lanka in New Delhi on 22 January 2013, was most productive. The Joint Commission agreed to pursue several important proposals made during the visit of Hon’ble Anand Sharma, the Commerce, Industries and Textiles Minister of India, in August 2012, entailing India’s involvement in the establishment of two manufacturing zones, one for engineering goods and automobile components and the other for pharmaceuticals. A Joint Task Force is working out the modalities for implementation of these proposals.

We hope to double the bilateral trade turnover to US$ 10 billion in the next three years. The two countries have also agreed to hold intensified negotiation towards an enhanced framework for a special economic partnership for comprehensive and sustained economic cooperation.

The feasibility study on inter-connection of power grids is nearing completion, and the two Governments have also agreed to explore the feasibility of establishing physical connectivity across the Palk Straits. Both sides agreed to expedite the implementation of the Sampur Power Project so that it could go on-stream by 2016.

The Joint Commission has identified and confirmed projects and initiatives in diverse fields, including tourism, civil aviation, connectivity, developmental partnership, science and technology, agriculture, energy, health, people-to-people contacts, culture and education.

The India-Sri Lanka CEOs Forum, which held its inaugural meeting in August 2012, is expected to generate ideas to enhance the engagement between the businesses of the two countries.  

An all-party Parliamentary delegation, led by the Hon’ble Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Smt. Sushma Swaraj, visited Sri Lanka in April 2012. The Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha, Smt. Meira Kumar led a large Indian delegation to the 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference held in Colombo in September 2012. There were several productive Ministerial visits in both directions last year.

The pilot phase of the project for construction of 1000 houses was successfully completed in July 2012.  The next phase of the Indian Housing Project for 43,000 housing units under the owner-driven mode in the Northern and Eastern Provinces was launched on the ground on 2 October 2012, Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary. I am happy to report that this phase is progressing well, with work already commencing on over 5,000 houses. We also hope to commence soon the implementation of the third phase of the housing project, involving construction of 4,000 houses for estate workers in Central & Uva Provinces as well of 2,000 houses for the most vulnerable sections in the Northern & Eastern Provinces.

We successfully completed the project for restoration of the Southern Railway line in April 2012, ahead of schedule. The reconstruction project for the Northern Railway line, under Indian lines of credit, is also progressing smoothly and is expected to be completed by December 2013, again ahead of schedule. Dredging operations would commence soon at the Kankesanthurai Harbour, marking another important step in India’s assistance towards restoring its full functionality as a commercial port.

Under our Small Development Project Scheme, we have completed many projects successfully and continue to expand our portfolio of projects in diverse sectors such as health, education, agriculture, fishing, livelihood restoration, community empowerment, and culture. The delivery of our development partnership projects has been done in a timely manner in keeping with the requirements on the ground and as per the priorities set by the Government of Sri Lanka.

We have also operationalised a three-fold increase in scholarship support to deserving Sri Lankan students, through a grant assistance of Rs. 2.5 billion over the next three years, as part of “India-Sri Lanka Knowledge Initiative”.

Our defence and security cooperation is developing steadily, with the inaugural Annual Defence Dialogue and service-level Staff Talks held last year, and the ongoing training of Sri Lankan defence personnel in India.  The exchange of high level defence visits has continued, with the Chief of Army Staff of India visiting Sri Lanka in December 2012, participation of the Vice Chief of Naval Staff of India at Galle Maritime Dialogue, and the current visit of the Chief of Defence Staff of Sri Lanka to India. The National Security Adviser of India and Defence Secretary of Sri Lanka have also exchanged visits.

India believes that the end of the armed conflict presents an unparalleled opportunity to build a better future for all the people of Sri Lanka. There has been impressive progress towards the resettlement of IDPs and reconstruction in conflict-affected areas; India has assisted in these endeavours. We look forward to early conclusion of the ongoing efforts to implement the many constructive recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. Expeditious implementation of these recommendations will mark a major step forward in the process of national reconciliation. India will continue to support moves towards an early political settlement to address the ethnic issue.

As I look back on the remarkable progress made in bilateral relations over the past year, I am filled with optimism for the future of our relationship and look forward to working towards taking it to the next level.

Colombo