President Murmu felicitates Sri Lankan counterpart; hopes for stronger bilateral ties

India Today:

President Droupadi Murmu has expressed hope that the long-standing bilateral partnership between India and Sri Lanka based on shared heritage and deep people-to-people ties will strengthen further as she felicitated her newly-appointed Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s eighth president on July 21 after he was elected by lawmakers to succeed Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country and resigned in the face of public revolt against his government for mismanaging the economy. The 73-year-old veteran politician will serve out the rest of his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s term, which ends in November 2024.

“President of India felicitated H.E President @RW_UNP. Wishing success to the President of Sri Lanka in her letter, Rashtrapati noted that #India’s commitment to the people of Sri Lanka is guided by the ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy,” the Indian High Commission here tweeted on Friday.