Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday left for India on his first official overseas visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr Rajapaksa is accompanied by his Secretary PB Jayasundera and Lalith Weeratunga, Advisor to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. During the two-day visit, the Lankan president will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deepen strategic bilateral ties.
The 70-year-old leader stormed to victory in Sri Lanka's presidential elections, the results of which came on November 17. He trounced his nearest rival Sajith Premadasa by a margin of over 13 lakh votes - 52.25 per cent of votes polled against 41.99 per cent.
On November 19, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived in Colombo on an unannounced two-day visit. He became the first foreign dignitary to call on President Rajapaksa. Sri Lankan officials said S Jaishankar carried a letter of personal congratulations to President Rajapaksa from Prime Minister Modi and an invitation to visit India, reported news agency PTI.
