Foreign Affairs Minister M.U.M. Ali Sabry paid an official visit to New Delhi to attend Raisina Dialogue - 2023, India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geo-economics jointly hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs of India, 02-04 March. The opening session of the Dialogue was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni.
On the sidelines, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry met with the External Affairs Minister of India Dr. S. Jaishankar on 04 March for bilateral talks at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi. Foreign Minister Sabry briefed Minister Jaishankar on the current developments in Sri Lanka as well as on the status of the country’s debt restructuring process and the negotiations on the IMF programme. The two ministers reviewed the present status of ongoing economic cooperation and discussed the way forward. Minister Sabry followed up on the invitation that was extended to President Ranil Wickremesinghe by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to undertake a visit to India.
The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister also held bilateral meetings with the Foreign Minister of Türkiye Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Foreign Minister of South Africa Dr. Naledi Pandor, Foreign Minister of Brazil Mauro Vieira and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign & European Affairs Minister of Slovenia Tanja Fajon with a view to strengthening relations and cooperation with those countries.
Foreign Ali Sabry also had several interactions with the New Delhi-based media.
On 03 March Foreign Minister Sabry engaged with “Lunch Conversation with Raisina Young Fellows” under the theme Healing a Divided World, and the Minister conversed on how democratic societies should respond to polarization and the role of the leaders in that process. Following this, the Minister was in a one-on-one conversation with the Chairman of the Observer Research Foundation Sunjoy Joshi at “Raisina Ideas Pod” and spoke on the current economic situation in Sri Lanka and country’s path to recovery.
Foreign Minister Sabry was also a panellist of the Plenary Panel Discussion, “Bytes of Promise: How Can Technology Lift Communities” where he spoke on the infrastructural and financial barriers to the spread of digital technology; importance of skill upgrading; how digitalization can enhance resilience and the need for sound policies and platforms to leverage technology for the upliftment of communities.
Foreign Minister Sabry was accompanied by senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Colombo
06 March 2023
