PM Modi, Sri Lankan President ‘take stock’ of Indo-Lanka ties on the sidelines of AI summit

Meeting on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake “took stock” of progress in bilateral relations, according to the leaders’ social media posts on Friday (February 20, 2026).

“Strengthening friendship with a valued neighbour! It was wonderful meeting President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Delhi. We took stock of the progress in India-Sri Lanka relations in the recent times. We also discussed avenues of cooperation in areas such as energy, connectivity, infrastructure, healthcare, skilling, culture, blue economy and more,” Mr. Modi said in his post on X.

President Dissanayake said the leaders held “extensive discussions on strengthening our historic ties and expanding economic, trade, and cultural cooperation”. Further, he expressed gratitude for India’s “exceptional support” during the recent Cyclone Ditwah.

No mention of India-backed projects

The messages had no mention of any specific India-backed project, or of the Tamil question, — and the pending political solution to it — that India has periodically raised with the Sri Lankan leadership in the past. The leaders met less than two months after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited Colombo, as Mr. Modi’s special envoy, in the wake of Cyclone Ditwah that ravaged the island nation, claiming 650 lives. As many as 173 people are still missing. The climate shock event that battered Sri Lanka late in November 2025, is one of the worst the island has witnessed since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. In addition to supporting Sri Lanka in immediate relief and rescue efforts, India pledged a “reconstruction package” of $450 million.

PM Modi visited Sri Lanka in April last year when the two sides inked seven Memorandums of Understanding, in areas including defence cooperation, energy, digitisation and health. His interaction with the Sri Lankan leader also came less than a fortnight after the visit of Tilvin Silva, the General Secretary of Mr. Dissanayake’s Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP or People’s Liberation Front), the party leading the country’s ruling National People’s Power coalition.