COLOMBO — India’s Vice President, C. P. Radhakrishnan, will undertake a two-day official visit to Sri Lanka from April 19 to 20, in a trip expected to highlight expanding cooperation between the two countries across energy, infrastructure and regional development.
The visit, made at the invitation of the Sri Lankan government, is being coordinated through the Presidential Secretariat and the High Commission of India in Colombo, officials said.
Mr. Radhakrishnan is scheduled to hold formal talks with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, and is also expected to meet Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa. In addition, he will hold discussions with representatives of Tamil political parties.
As part of his itinerary, the vice president is expected to travel to Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern provinces, where he will visit a range of Indian-funded development projects.
In the Eastern Province, he is scheduled to inspect the strategically significant Trincomalee oil tank farm project, a key component of India’s energy cooperation with Sri Lanka. He will also review other ongoing initiatives supported by India, including three hospital projects in Mullaitivu, Deniyaya and Puttalam.
According to Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath, the visit will include a broader assessment of Indian-backed projects across sectors such as health, infrastructure, energy and community development, covering both completed initiatives and those in progress.
Several new bilateral agreements are expected to be signed during the visit, Mr. Herath said, as the two countries seek to consolidate cooperation in priority areas.
The trip comes amid a period of deepening engagement between New Delhi and Colombo, following a series of recent high-level agreements on defense cooperation, energy connectivity, health and digital partnerships. Officials have also emphasized ongoing collaboration to develop Trincomalee as a regional energy and industrial hub.
Preparatory discussions for the visit were held at the Presidential Secretariat, where the President’s Chief of Staff, Prabath Chandrakeerthi, met with India’s Deputy High Commissioner, Dr. Satyanjal Pandey, to review arrangements for the visit and ongoing development projects.
The visit is expected to reinforce India’s role as a key development partner to Sri Lanka, particularly in regions where large-scale infrastructure and social sector investments are underway.
Mr. Radhakrishnan, who hails from Tiruppur in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is regarded as a close associate of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, brings a dimension to the visit that is likely to resonate in Sri Lanka’s north and east. While he is a national political figure, his Tamil linguistic and cultural background may draw quiet attention among Sri Lankan Tamils, for whom engagement by leaders with shared cultural roots has often carried a degree of symbolic significance.
