Sri Lanka urged not to let debt to India take on different ‘complexion’ in energy talks

President Wickremesinghe’s visit will occur as Sri Lanka negotiates debt with major bilateral creditors including India and China

Colombo must be careful to protect its security interests even while trying to secure energy projects with the likes of Delhi and Beijing, experts say

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Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s first official visit to India looms with talks on energy and power expected to be high on the agenda, but experts have called for the need to “balance” the relationship with India and China. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 12:00pm, 17 Jul 2023

President Ranil Wickremesinghe must be careful to protect Sri Lanka’s security interests in talks with India, experts have warned, as an ongoing debt-restructuring programme casts a “new complexion” on his first official visit to New Delhi.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry last week said officials would discuss renewable energy projects, a potential oil refinery, an energy hub and a port in eastern Trincomalee, adding that talks on an undersea cable between the countries could also be revived.

Wickremesinghe’s Friday visit comes about a year after he was elected president through a parliamentary vote. It also takes place following Colombo’s US$2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and amid Sri Lanka’s efforts to negotiate its debt with India and China. The former held about 9 per cent, and the latter 20 per cent, of Sri Lanka’s total public external debt of US$40.7 billion at the end of 2021.

Sri Lankans queue up to buy kerosene for domestic use at a supply station in Colombo on May 26, 2022. Photo: AFP

India has been gaining a foothold in Sri Lanka’s energy sector over the past year, with the Adani Group winning a US$442 million wind power project in the northern region of Sri Lanka in February this year.