Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe along with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi in Colombo. | Picture Credit score: Particular Association
The World South should struggle for its power and autonomy, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe stated on Wednesday, whereas thanking his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, who inaugurated a key power and irrigation venture within the island nation .
Wickremesinghe expressed his “gratitude to Iran for its technical assist” and emphasised that with out Iran’s assist, Sri Lanka wouldn’t have the ability to execute the essential $514 million irrigation venture. Because of the venture, round 6,000 hectares of agricultural land in three southern and central districts will probably be equipped with water, his workplace stated. Moreover, the venture is predicted to generate and add 120 MW to the nationwide grid.
Wickremesinghe’s speech in favor of better autonomy for the World South got here amid media experiences in Sri Lanka about “Western stress” on Colombo. Raisi landed in Sri Lanka ten days after Iran launched an unprecedented missile and drone assault on Israel, in retaliation for the April 1 airstrike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus. Whereas the 2 sides seem to have backed down on a regional battle for now, tensions stay excessive as Israel continues its relentless assault on Gaza. Throughout his simply concluded three-day go to to Pakistan, President Raisi warned Israel that “there will probably be nothing left of the Zionist regime” if Tel Aviv assaults Iran once more.
In the meantime, the Sri Lankan authorities introduced the signing of 5 agreements with Iran. Sri Lanka is dedicated to increasing bilateral ties and growth cooperation with the West Asian nation and has expressed curiosity in leveraging its experience within the power, water, agriculture, nanotechnology, prescription drugs and biotechnology sectors. In February this yr, Iranian International Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian visited Colombo and expressed satisfaction over the barter commerce deal below which Iran provides crude oil to Sri Lanka in trade for tea. Iran agreed to offset cost of $250 million for its crude oil by importing tea from Sri Lanka. The 2 international locations additionally agreed to discover commerce in Asian currencies as a substitute of US {dollars}.
