Press Interaction 

Opening Remarks by High Commissioner of India, Shri. Santosh Jha

(08 January 2026)

Thank you all for joining. Let me begin by wishing you all a happy new year. 

As is customary, we thought we’ll meet today to do a quick wrap of the year that was and also to reflect on the India-Sri Lanka Partnership as we go into the new year. 

If I were to summarise 2025, I would really sum it up as an year of re-energising and reaffirmation: Re-energising the India-Sri Lanka bilateral agenda and re-affirming the strength of our civilisational friendship. Trust, goodwill & friendship are at an all time high.

We started the year with the visit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to Sri Lanka in April 2025. Prime Minister Modi was the first foreign Head of State or Head of Government to be hosted by the President of Sri Lanka since the latter's assumption of office last year in September 2024. Earlier in December 2024, President Anura Kumara Disanayaka had chosen India as his first overseas destination for a State Visit after assuming office.

The visit saw substantive outcomes in terms of MoUs exchanged and new projects announced. A highlight was the conferment of the ‘Sri Lanka Mitra Vibhushana’ award upon the Prime Minister, Sri Lanka’s highest honour bestowed on foreign leaders. During the banquet held in his honour, Prime Minister in fact captured the essence of the India-Sri Lanka relationship mentioning the two as ‘civilisational twins’. 

The year saw a series of high-level exchanges thereon including the visit of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya to India in October 2025, visit of several Ministers for subject-related exchanges, as also of Parliamentary delegations including one led by the Sri Lanka India Parliamentary Friendship Group. 

The energy was visible not only in these high-level interactions, but also in actioning on the agenda agreed upon between our leadership. 2025 saw inaugural meetings of the Joint Working Groups on Agriculture and Health. Joint Working Group on Renewable Energy also met for the second time last year. We expanded our cooperation in capacity building with hundreds of Sri Lankan professionals across domains from election officials to judiciary to auditors to craftsmen, to bureaucracy, having undergone programmes in India. 

On the India-Sri Lanka visits calendar, the year closed with the visit of External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar to Sri Lanka from 22-23 December. He came as the Special Envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, carrying a message for President Anura Kumara Disanayaka - a message of support and solidarity in the wake of the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah. It underlined that India remains Sri Lanka’s most reliable friend and the most dependable partner. 

As Sri Lanka’s closest neighbour, India has always been a First Responder. When Cyclone Ditwah made landfall, we commenced our rescue and relief mission under Operation Sagar Bandhu on the same day as the landfall. 

Indian Navy Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant and Indian Naval Ship INS Udayagiri docked in Colombo for International Fleet review, immediately pivoted to HADR operations. These ships provided immediate rescue and relief material, including dry and fresh rations and HADR bricks. 2 Chetak helicopters from INS Vikrant were mobilised to support rescue efforts. 

Thereafter, 3 Mi-17 helicopters of the Indian Airforce were active for a period of more than two weeks in Sri Lanka, rescuing stranded persons from inaccessible areas and distributing aid. An 80-member National Disaster Response Force contingent arrived simultaneously and conducted rescue and relief operations. The Indian Army set up a field hospital with 85 medical personnel near Kandy, giving emergency care to about 8000 people. Two modular BHISHM emergency medical care units were also air lifted to Sri Lanka and utilised in the worst affected districts.

The scale and nature of devastation necessitated urgent restoration work for critical connectivity infrastructure. This was also discussed between His Excellency President Dissanayake and Prime Minister Modi in their telephone call on 01 December 2025. 

Accordingly, Bailey Bridges were airlifted from India to Sri Lanka. EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar and Foreign Minister Hon. Vijitha Herath inaugurated the first such bridge constructed by Indian Army Engineering Corps in Kilinochchi along the A35 highway, which had been destroyed in the wake of the cyclone. Two other bridges near Kandy-Ragala road is nearing completion. These are being installed by a team of 45 Indian Army Engineers. Indian Army signallers (part of para field hospital team) also reconnected the severed OFC Cable and restored connectivity in Mahiyanganaya region. 

Overall, Operation Sagar Bandhu from 28 November to 22 December had delivered over 1100 tons of relief material, including dry rations, tents, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, essential clothing and water purification kits, about 14.5 tons of medicines and medical equipment were also provided, 60 tons of equipment and 228 tons of Bailey Bridge units. In addition, Indian companies in Sri Lanka have contributed over USD 1 million to the Rebuilding Sri Lanka Fund, underscoring their commitment to Sri Lanka’s recovery and long-term development.

With the visit of EAM in late December 2025, we have now shifted focus to reconstruction and rebuilding to support the efforts and packages announced by Government of Sri Lanka. 

This is a demonstration of Sri Lanka’s key place in India’s Neighbourhood First and MAHASAGAR policies. It is this policy that is reflected in India stepping forward with a package of USD 450 million. This package responds to the needs as assessed by various Ministries of the Government of Sri Lanka. 

The assistance package proposed includes USD 350 million in concessional Lines of Credit and USD 100 million of grants. The assistance will be multi-pronged, assisting Sri Lanka in sectors that were most badly hit. 

The five broad categories of support are: 

1. rehabilitation and restoration of road, railway and bridge connectivity;
2. support for construction of houses fully destroyed and partially damaged;
3. support for health and education systems, in particular, those that have been damaged by the cyclone;
4. agriculture, including to address possible shortages in the short and medium term, and
5. working towards better disaster response and preparedness.

During his visit, EAM’s discussions with the Sri Lankan leadership centred around how expeditiously the assistance across sectors could be implemented. A joint monitoring and coordination mechanism with representatives from across Ministries has been put in place for that very purpose. I along with Hon. Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Prof. Anil Jayantha co-chaired the inaugural meeting in this format in the last week of December 2025. 

Over the coming week, we are looking at inaugurating two bridges constructed under this package. We will also commence the restoration work on the Northern Railway Line. The bridge construction is proposed to be covered under a grant of nearly USD 30 million. Our estimates suggest that this should suffice for restoration of all bridges impacted by Ditwah. The repair of the Northern Railway line will also be funded under grant. 

Similarly, the agenda for the next couple of weeks includes installation of nearly 200 RO water purification plants in localities identified by the government. Another priority is to supply temporary shelter material for those who have lost their houses to Cyclone Ditwah. We are also working towards finalising proposals to support through a grant of USD 50 million, repair of partially and fully damaged houses. We are also aiming at finalising the modalities for various projects, including the terms of the INR-denominated lines of credit. The LoCs will enable rebuilding of damaged roads & railways and support procurement of food, medicines, medical equipment, fertilizers, livestock and any related items in short supply. 

Timing as you would appreciate is the essence in post-disaster recovery phase. Our plan has been meticulously drawn up with targets set for progress and review periodically.  We will continue to share updates with you, and hope to have you push both sides for an even faster delivery. 

Friends, this assistance package and our focus on expeditious implementation is a manifestation of the people-centric nature of the India-Sri Lanka partnership. This package is an addition to our overall economic assistance extended till date of over USD 7 billion. India continues to be the principal development partner for Sri Lanka with over USD 780 million worth of projects, most of which are presently under implementation, under grant assistance. 

These grant projects include a commitment of 10000 houses in the plantation areas under Phase-4 of the Indian Housing Project. While 3300 of these are under different stages of implementation, 6700 houses could potentially benefit families who have been hit by the Cyclone, or at risk of a future disaster. Similarly, a package of nearly USD 10 million had been committed for the upliftment of the Indian Origin Tamil community. Roughly USD 8 million of this package remains unutilized and can also be deployed to supplement government’s ongoing efforts at post-disaster recovery, especially with respect to the IOT community which is perhaps the worst-affected from the impacts of Cyclone Ditwah. 

Over and above the focused support, India will continue to work with Sri Lanka to deepen our economic linkages on the trade and investment front. Despite the disaster, we had the NASSCOM Delegation visit Sri Lanka from 4-6 December 2025 in a show of solidarity. Comprising of over 20 CXOs of India’s leading IT companies, the visit was not only a vote of confidence in Sri Lanka’s business ecosystem but was also an encouragement for Indian tourists to keep travelling to your beautiful country during your peak tourist season in December and January. 

The year 2025 was also a year of many milestones in our economic partnership. Several flagship projects were inaugurated, including the groundbreaking of the Sampur Solar Power Project and the launch of signalling system installation on the Maho–Anuradhapura railway line. Important projects such as the upgradation of the Maho–Omanthai railway line and the provision of solar rooftop systems to 5,000 religious sites were completed. Substantial progress was also made on the power grid interconnection project, which holds considerable potential for enabling Sri Lankan power exports to India. Alongside this, engagement expanded into new domains of technology, innovation and AI, with Sri Lankan start-ups undertaking capacity building in India and leading Indian venture capital firms pledging support to Sri Lanka’s innovation ecosystem.

We are also supporting the Government of Sri Lanka in developing transparent and effective public–private partnership models. Tourism linkages have strengthened further, with India accounting for over 20 per cent of foreign tourist arrivals in 2025, surpassing the record levels of 2018. If we look at the BoI figures, approx 25%  of the FDI into Sri Lanka in 2025 was from India. If we go deeper into the data, we realise that often many of the Indian companies that are global, channelise their investment through their many global subsidiaries. Hence often that investment is shown from a third country in the official data. Once we take that into account, I am given to understand that approx 40-50% of FDI inflows into Sri Lanka are from Indian companies. Indian investments have played a notable role in the economy, with projects such as the West Container Terminal—completed in record time and introducing state-of-the-art technology at the Port of Colombo—and CEAT’s USD 171 million investment. There is also the remarkable story of Colombo Dockyard moving from bankruptcy to revival, supported by the forthcoming investment from Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, which has already helped secure major global contracts. 

I am confident that as we deepen our economic linkages and diversify our trade baskets, India will continue to be Sri Lanka’s leading partner in trade, tourism and investment. 

Let me conclude by saying the India-Sri Lanka partnership finds itself in a historic sweet-spot. It is our endeavour to further deepen this unparalleled bond in the year ahead with even closer engagements and laser-focus on delivering for the benefit of our two peoples. 

Thank you for your attention. I will try and answer any questions you may have now. 

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Tamil Translation of Press Interaction - Opening Remarks by High Commissioner of India, Shri. Santosh Jha on 08.01.2026.

Sinhala Translation of Press Interaction - Opening Remarks by High Commissioner of India, Shri. Santosh Jha on 08.01.2026.