Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa kicked off official engagements on his five-day trip to India on Saturday by meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
On Friday, Mahinda Rajapaksa met Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Early on Saturday, Mahinda was given a ceremonial guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan, where he was welcomed by President Ramnath Kovind and Modi.
Mahinda and Jaishankar discussed issues relating to development partnership and security cooperation between the two neighbouring countries. Officials said a number of issues relating to defence, security and trade figured in the meeting between the Sri Lankan prime minister and Jaishankar. He then met Modi at Hyderabad House. Officials said a range of key bilateral issues, including trade and investment, as well as defence and security, figured in the talks between the two prime ministers.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a former president of Sri Lanka and older brother of current Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Mahinda had served as Sri Lanka's president from 2005 to 2015 and oversaw the end of the brutal civil war with the LTTE. This is his first international visit after becoming prime minister last November.
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After his official engagements in Delhi, Mahinda will travel to Varanasi, Sarnath, Bodh Gaya and Tirupati.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa visited India in November, which was also his first official overseas trip after taking charge of the top office.
During his tenure as president, Mahinda built a close relationship with China, helping Beijing expand its influence in the Indian Ocean region. This had triggered concern in New Delhi.
