New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) India’s Vice President C P Radhakrishnan on Sunday departed for a two-day official visit to Sri Lanka, marking a significant step in strengthening bilateral ties between the two nations.

The visit is notable as the first bilateral official trip by an Indian Vice President to Sri Lanka, underscoring the growing momentum in diplomatic engagement between the neighbours.

Confirming the departure, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, posted on X, “Hon’ble Vice President of India, Shri. C. P. Radhakrishnan @VPIndia has departed for Sri Lanka. A rich agenda involving meeting with Sri Lankan leadership and interacting with Indian community lies ahead.”

During the visit, VP Radhakrishnan is scheduled to call on Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Disanayaka and hold discussions with Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya. His engagements will also include interactions with leaders of the Indian-origin Tamil community and Tamil representatives from the Northern and Eastern regions of the island nation.

The Vice President will also address members of the Indian diaspora at a community event in Colombo. At the event, he will virtually hand over houses to beneficiaries from Tamil communities constructed under the third phase of the Indian Housing Project. With this phase, the total number of houses built for Tamil communities will reach 50,000, while an additional 10,000 houses are currently being developed under the initiative’s fourth phase.

On Monday, the Vice President will travel to Nuwara Eliya, where he will visit project sites and interact with the local Tamil community. Indian-origin Tamilians form a significant segment of Sri Lanka’s population, numbering around 1.6 million, or approximately 7 per cent.

The visit comes amid a series of recent high-level exchanges between the two countries, including President Disanayaka’s visit to India in February and Prime Minister Amarasuriya’s trip in October 2025. It is expected to further deepen the millennia-old civilisational and people-to-people ties shared by India and Sri Lanka.

–IANS

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