Fishermen issue likely to be discussed at Indo-Lanka Joint Commission meeting

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to Colombo on Thursday on a two-day visit during which she will hold talks with the top Lankan leadership and attend the ninth Indo-Lanka Joint Commission meeting to discuss key bilateral and regional issues. On her second visit within a year, Swaraj and her Lankan counterpart Mangala Samaraweera will co-chair the Joint Commission meet which will be held in Colombo. 

The meeting is expected to discuss cooperation in areas such as economy, trade, power and energy, technical and maritime cooperation, social, cultural and educational matters, science and technology, defence cooperation, health, civil aviation, tourism and people-to-people contact. The last meet of the Joint Commission was in New Delhi in January 2013. 

The joint commission was set up in 1992 as a mechanism to address issues pertaining to bilateral cooperation. During her trip, Swaraj will call on President Maithripala Sirisena, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe and meet other top leaders and hold wide-ranging talks with them. The issue of fishermen is likely to come up for discussion. 

India-Sri Lanka relations had seen lows during last few years of the tenure of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was voted out of power, even as China had expanded its footprint in the country by building ports, highways and participating in other infrastructure projects. 

The ties gained momentum after the visit of PM Modi to that country in March last year.