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Bridge to Sri Lanka?

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI April 22. India and Sri Lanka may be joined by a bridge, if a proposal being examined by the two countries is implemented. According to the Sri Lankan High Commissioner, Mangala Moonesinghe a joint India-Lanka group has been commissioned in partnership with the Planning Commission to assess the bridge project.

He felt the bridge may speed up trade and development between the two countries. Mr. Moonesinghe was speaking at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) today where the visiting Sri Lankan Industries Minister, Rohitha Bogollagama sought closer economic ties with India beyond the existing free trade agreement. He conceded that a mistake had been made by not raising the level of economic cooperation with India and instead focussing on U.S. and Europe.

The Sri Lankan Minister sought Indian investment in the infrastructure, hospitality, entertainment, tourism and real estate sectors. He also underlined the need to promote technical cooperation between the two nations.

Referring to the situation in West Asia, he suggested that India and Sri Lanka can jointly take part in reconstruction activity in Iraq. He noted that Sri Lanka would be used as a source for supply of rehabilitation material to Iraq through Saudi Arabia and invited Indian entrepreneurs to take advantage of the opportunity.

He said his country was fully committed to facilitating Indian investments in Sri Lanka and would iron out any issues that hamper its growth. He said cutting transportation and logistics time is one of the areas that needed to be addressed with urgency.

The Minister said bilateral economic ties had gone well at a time when peace in the island nation was precarious. He said the ceasefire initiated by the Sri Lankan Government with the LTTE has brought about tremendous change in the structure of development opportunities in the country.

Mr. Bogollagama said Indian copper and lead units near Colombo raising environmental concerns have been asked to upgrade their technologies and conform to standards.

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