Political Relations

President Maithripala Sirisena was elected as the new President of Sri Lanka in the presidential election held on 8 January, 2015. He succeeded former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Following parliamentary elections on 17 August 2015, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe was reappointed as the Prime Minister by President Sirisena on 21 August 2015. Political relations between the two countries have been marked by high-level exchanges of visits at regular intervals.

• President Sirisena visited India in 15 February 2015. He was also on a working visit to India India on 13-14 May 2016. During this, he visited New Delhi, Ujjain and Sanchi. He also travelled to India on 19-21 August 2016 on a private visit.
• President Sirisena travelled to India on 15-17 October 2016 to attend the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit.
• President Sirisena traveled to India on 6-7 November 2016 to attend Seventh Session of the Conference of Parties (COP7) to World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in New Delhi.
• Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited India in September 2015, his first overseas visit after being appointed as Prime Minister.
• President Sirisena and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also met on the margins of 70th session of UNGA in New York in September 2015 and at the COP21 meeting in Paris in November 2015. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe travelled to India on 4-6 October 2016 for the India Economic Summit. He again paid a working visit to India from 25-29 April, 2017 and an MoU on cooperation in economic projects was signed during the visit.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Sri Lanka on 13-14 March, 2015. He travelled to Anuradhapura, Talaimannar, and Jaffna. Prime Minister Narendra Modi again visited Sri Lanka on 11-12 May 2017 as a Chief Guest to attend the International Day of Vesak celebrations in Sri Lanka. During the visit, he inaugurated Dickoya hospital, addressed a gathering in Norwood’s ground and took blessings at Sri Dalada Maligawa temple in Kandy.
• Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians held in Colombo from 04-06 October 2017. External Affairs Minister Smt. Sushma Swaraj led an inter-ministerial delegation to Colombo from 5-6 February 2016 for the 9th Session of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission.
• On 18 June 2016, Prime Minister and President Maithripala Sirisena, through video conferencing from New Delhi, jointly inaugurated the newly renovated Duraiappah Stadium in Jaffna.