Colombo: Former Sri Lankan cabinet Minister Namal Rajapaksa has thanked India for the aid and essential commodities sent to Sri Lanka at the time of crisis.
“Grateful to HE PM @narendramodi, Hon CM@mkstalin & the people of India for the aid & essential items sent to #LKA. India certainly has been a big brother & a good friend to #LKA throughout the years, something that we will never forget! Thank you @IndiainSL.” he tweeted.
Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay handed over a large consignment of humanitarian assistance worth more than SLR 2 billion from the people of India to Foreign Minister G.L Peiris in Colombo on Sunday.
The handing over function was attended by Hon’ble Minister for Ports and Shipping Nimal Siripala de Silva, Former Minister Vajira Abeywardena, Sagala Ratnayaka, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister, Senthil Thondaman, Leader of Ceylon Workers Congress, Food Commissioner J. Krishnamurthy, among senior officials and others, read a statement issued by the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka.
The consignment consists of 9,000 MT of rice, 50 MT of milk powder and more than 25 MT of drugs and other medical supplies.
Grateful to HE PM @narendramodi, Hon CM @mkstalin & the people of India 🇮🇳 for the aid & essential items sent to #LKA. India certainly has been a big brother & a good friend to #LKA throughout the years, something that we will never forget! Thank you 🙏🏽 @IndiainSL
— Namal Rajapaksa (@RajapaksaNamal) May 23, 2022
The consignment was flagged off from Chennai port by Thiru M.K Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 18 May 2022. This is also the first consignment under a larger USD 16 million commitment of 40,000 MT of rice, 500 MT of milk powder and medicines by Government of Tamil Nadu.
Handed over materials shall be distributed among vulnerable and needy sections in various parts of Sri Lanka including Northern, Eastern, Central and Western Provinces by Government of Sri Lanka in the coming days.
More humanitarian consignments and other forms of assistance from India shall follow. Multi-pronged endeavour by both the Government and people of India underlines the importance attached to Sri Lanka and reflects their concerns for the well-being of its people.
Support extended to Sri Lanka ranges from economic assistance worth around USD 3.5 billion, supply of vaccines, testing kits, close to 1000 MT of liquid oxygen to combat COVID-19, immediate response by Indian Navy and Coast Guard to mitigate marine disasters etc.
