Sri Lankan PM Mahinda Rajapaksa will visit India from February 7-11: MEA

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa will visit India from February 7-11, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday. After arriving in India on February 7, he will hold delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 8, which will be the main engagement day.

After his official engagement in Delhi, the Sri Lankan PM will travel to Varanasi and Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh, Bodhgaya in Bihar and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

Speaking on its relationship with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, Kumar said that India enjoys an excellent bilateral relationship with all the nations except for one. Hinting at Pakistan, he said, "Regional corporation is adversely affected when you have cross border terrorism." The SAARC countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

On the Indians stuck in Coronavirus-hit China, Kumar said, "We are constantly monitoring the situation arising due to the outbreak of Coronavirus. We have requested to operate two aircraft to China to back Indian nationals from Hubei province and are awaiting formal approval from China. In our knowledge, there are about 1200 students and we have contacted more than 600, asking them if they want to come to India from the first flight in China."

"We have noted the decision of the European Union Parliament not to put the CAA resolution to vote today. We have noted that the European Commission's clarification that the opinions expressed by the European Parliament and its members don't represent the official position of EU," added Kumar.