President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who wrapped up his first two-day State visit to India, was scheduled to arrive in the country last night.
At the end of the successful visit during which the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged a US $ 450 million soft loan for development and counter terrorism activities, the President visited the Sri Lankan High Commission in Delhi and planted a mango sapline in the High Commission premises denoting the visit. High Commissioner Austin Fernando had subsequently hosted him for lunch at the High Commission.
The visit was also marked by a reunion of President Rajapaksa’s fellow batch mates at the Defence Services Staff College.
He met his course mate General V.K.Singh, a former Indian Army chief turned State Transport Minister of the Modi Administration and fifteen other ex-military officers whom he met during his young training days.The gathering turned out to be a walk down the memory lane with cherished reminiscences. Most of these army personnel served in Sri Lanka as members of Indian Peace Keeping Force.
Prime Minister Modi gifted a group photograph which had been in General Singh’s pocession, as a memento to the visiting Lankan President during a bi-lateral meeting at his official residence in Hydrabad earlier.
The Indian President Ram Nath Kovind hosted President Rajapaksa for Dinner at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday. President met the Bharatha Janatha Party General Secretary Ram Madhav and The Hindu Editor Suhasini Haidar prior to his departure.