Colombo, Sep 12 (IANS) Sri Lankan Minister of Health and Mass Communication, Nalinda Jayatissa, has said that India plays a vital role in her country’s march towards prosperity and welfare.

While sharing insights from a recent visit of a 24-member high-level delegation of Sri Lanka-India Parliamentary Friendship Association to New Delhi, Jayatissa, as the President of SLIPFA, who led the delegation, underscored the centuries-old historic ties between India and Sri Lanka.

According to the Indian High Commission in Colombo, the Minister recounted the experience during a dinner hosted by Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha in honour of the SLIPFA, which was also attended by Sri Lankan Deputy Ministers and several Members of Parliament across party lines.

Last month, the delegation of SLIPFA met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla during their visit to the Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies (PRIDE) at Lok Sabha Secretariat in New Delhi.

During the meeting, Birla underscored Sri Lanka’s significance in India’s Neighbourhood First policy and MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions) vision and called for an increase in such bilateral exchanges between India and Sri Lanka.

Referring to recent high-level exchanges, Birla described Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka in April 2025 and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s visit to India in December 2024 as milestones in bilateral relations.

Speaker Birla welcomed the establishment of the India-Sri Lanka Parliamentary Friendship Association in the Sri Lankan Parliament, calling it a testament to the strength of bilateral ties.

He emphasised the need for institutional cooperation and regular dialogue between the Parliaments of both countries to share democratic practices and the experiences of elected representatives. Such exchanges, he said, will further reinforce democratic values.

Birla underlined that the shared heritage of India and Sri Lanka goes back thousands of years, with deep-rooted cultural and people-to-people connections forming key pillars of bilateral relations. He stressed that the development of the Ramayana and Buddhist tourism circuits, along with cultural exchanges and growing people-to-people contact, provides a strong foundation for these relations.

On his part, Jayatissa thanked India for being the first responder during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. He also praised India’s role in ensuring peace and stability in the Indian Ocean Region, while describing India’s cooperation in health and education as a lifeline for Sri Lanka.

–IANS

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