Phuket (Thailand): Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Wednesday said that the early resettlement of some 300,000 Tamils displaced in Sri Lanka will get "top billing" in talks with Colombo.
"We have impressed upon the Sri Lankan government that the immediate need to resettle 300,000 Tamils should get top billing in our agenda," Krishna told Indian journalists ahead of his meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama.
"They have assured us (that) within 180 days they will be able to resettle most civilians."
India has agreed to assist Sri Lanka in the rehabilitation of the Tamils, most of who fled areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) before the rebels were decimated in May.
Krishna will meet Bogollagama on the sidelines of India-ASEAN ministerial meetings in the Thai island resort later Wednesday.
This will be the first high-level contact between India and Sri Lanka after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Summit in Egypt last week.
Krishna arrived in Phuket Tuesday night on a three-day visit aimed at boosting India`s multi-faceted engagements with Southeast Asia and East Asia.
IANS
