NEW DELHI: Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani held a meeting with visiting Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe to discuss multiple projects in the island nation.
The discussions included the development of the Colombo Port West Container Terminal (WCT), the industrialist said Wickremesinghe is on a two-day visit to India.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd (APSEZ), a key subsidiary of the diversified Adani Group, in March 2021 received a Letter of Intent (LOI) from Sri Lankan authorities for the development and operations of West Container Terminal (WCT) in Colombo.
APSEZ will partner with John Keells Holdings PLC, Sri Lanka’s largest diversified conglomerate, and with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) as a part of the consortium awarded this mandate.
The WCT will be developed on a Build, Operate and Transfer basis for a period of 35 years as a public-private partnership.
The project is expected to boost WCT’s container handling capacity and further consolidate Sri Lanka’s locational advantage as one of the world’s top strategic nodes along the busiest global transhipment route.
The Colombo Port is already the most preferred regional hub for transhipment of Indian containers and mainline ship operators with 45 per cent of Colombo’s transhipment volumes either originating from or destined to an Adani port terminal in India.
The network impact of this partnership is significant and expected to be mutually benefitted from the string of 7 container terminals across its 12 ports that Adani operates along the Indian coastline handling an annual volume of over 6 million TEUs.
Earlier on Thursday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on the Sri Lankan President .Wickremesinghe arrived in New Delhi on yesterday and was welcomed by Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan.
Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi noted that Wickremesinghe’s visit will further boost the multi-prolonged partnership between India and Sri Lanka. Notably, it is Sri Lankan President’s first visit to India since assuming office.
During his visit, President Wickremesinghe will meet his Indian counterpart Droupadi Murmu and discuss various issues of mutual interest with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Indian dignitaries, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release.
Wickremesinghe is visiting India at the invitation of PM Modi. The visit will reinforce the longstanding friendship between the two countries and explore avenues for enhanced connectivity and mutually beneficial cooperation across sectors.
MEA further noted in its release, “Sri Lanka is an important partner in India’s Neighbourhood First Policy and Vision SAGAR. The visit will reinforce the longstanding friendship between the two countries and explore avenues for enhanced connectivity and mutually beneficial cooperation across sectors.”
Arindam Bagchi on Thursday said Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s India visit is a major one as the country has important, multifaceted relations with the island nation.
“This is a very important visit, it is a neighbouring country with whom we have very important relationship, we have multifaceted relations,” Bagchi said during yesterday’s MEA briefing. (ANI)