Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the high-level meeting on Sri Lanka’s debt issues on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)- World Bank (WB) Spring Meetings in Washington DC on Thursday (Local Time), according to the statement released by Ministry of Finance.
The purpose of the meeting was to demonstrate the multilateral cooperation regarding the debt restructuring process among the creditors, together with Sri Lanka. At the event, the ministers announced the launch of the debt restructuring negotiation process in Sri Lanka under the three Co-Chairs — India, Japan, and France, to lead the coordinated debt restructuring of Sri Lanka.
Apart from Sitharaman, Suzuki Shunichi, Finance Minister of Japan and Emmanuel Moulin, Director General of the Treasury, France, and Shehan Semasinghe, State Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka, were also present at the meeting. Ranil Wickremesinghe, President and Finance minister of Sri Lanka also participated in the event virtually.
Union Finance Minister Sitharaman expressed India’s commitment to supporting Sri Lanka in dealing with its current economic crisis. She emphasised that collaboration among creditors is important to ensure transparency and equality in the treatment of all creditors in the debt restructuring discussions, the release read.
India, under its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, has always come forward to help debt-ridden Sri Lanka, and in the latest instance, New Delhi has also distributed the ration in Kalmunai on March 16.(ANI)
