India and Sri lanka on Friday held detailed discussions on the issue of Indian fishermen and trade relationships. During a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Sri lankan counterpart Gl Peiris, the lankan Minister also gave a “detailed presentation” on the measures taken by his Government on reconciliation and accountability process to protect human rights of various sections in the Island, including that of Tamils.
In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a bilateral meeting with Sri lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the day of his swearing-in on May 26, had pitched for early and full implementation of the reconciliation process to meet the aspirations of Tamil community in lanka.
During their two-hour meeting, Swaraj thanked Peiris for what its “fast-track” approach with regard to Indian fishermen in custody of lanka. According to Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), 805 Indian fishermen have been repatriated so far since January. The Spokesperson observed this is highest in the last five years and added that as many as 249 fishermen have been released since the new government has come in power, including 37 who were released on Friday.
“Both Ministers agreed that this issue (of fishermen) needs to be addressed as an issue of livelihood and a long-term solution is needed for this,” Akbaruddin said.
Swaraj and Peiris also had discussions over India’s developmental projects in Sri lanka. Sri lanka is investing one billion US dollars in the project in is a garment city in Vishakhapatnam. The project will provide employment to 38,500 persons. On the issue of trade which is now 4.8 billion dollars - slightly less than previous year-- the two countries felt the need to address this at earliest.