Sri Lanka wants India to put a Oil and Gas pipeline to help its economy to recover

By TN Ashok New Delhi, May 17 : Sri Lankan High Commissioner in India Dr Milinda Moragoda today disclosed that his country had floated a proposal to the Indian government to lay an Oil & Gas pipeline through Trincomalee and claimed it had received favourable response from the leadership of the country. Speaking to foreign correspondents here this evening at the Foreign Correspondents Club of South Asia (FCC), Dr Moragoda, who has previously held several ministerial portfolios in the Lankan cabinet , said such a pipeline would help his country’s economic growth to receive petroleum products ranging from petrol, diesel, lubricants etc which it had to import at prohibitive costs. Thanking the Indian government under PM Narendra Modi for the extraordinary support it had extended at the dark hour in his country of an unprecedented economic crisis, he said his country was thankful for the $1.6 billion credit it was extending to resurrect the island nation’s shattered economy. On the economic crisis, he said the external debt was about $15 billion of which India was due to get $1.6 billion, $2.6 billion to the Paris Club of European nations and a huge chunk to China. China has also extended a $1.6 billion credit line but nothing concrete had been achieved so far , but negotiations were on , he said. On the controversy if the businessman Gautam Adani was favored to construct a multipurpose port in Sri Lanka, Dr Moragoda said, “he was among the first to arrive with a concrete proposal to construct the port. There is no politics in this. It’s purely an investment decision the government of Sri Lanka made. We are not competent to comment on the businessmen relations with the government in India. As far as Srilanka is concerned, we welcome investment decisions. “ The project is on and will be completed, he said. The Adanis are also the first to arrive in Israel and they are going to construct the Haifa port, he pointed. When it comes to geo-politics interests conflicting with geo-economic interests, every nation will choose the latter for economic development. He said as far as Sri Lanka was concerned it realized its geo-political situation and its proximity to India and knows its security concerns are best served by India than any other country. Dr Moragoda, a Harvard university alumni, said Tourism and Tea were the biggest export earners for Sri Lanka. Now apparels have become another big export earner for Sri Lanka. “We are a small country of just two million people. Tourism has never been affected even during the 30 years war with Tamil rebels and even today after covid it remains a big tourist destination. Dr Moragoda said he would like India to make Colombo a power hub of the island nation by putting up power plants. “Our need is just 4300 MW of power and a single power plant in India can generate 4300 MWs of power that Sri Lank needs “, he said .India is a big country of 1.5 billion people progressing very well on the economic front and it would remain Sri Lanks best friend. Politically and Economically , Sri Lanka was recovering with aid coming from many countries and especially India. The situation of shortage of essential commodities or fuels was not yet entirely over and reports there was civil strife in Colombo or any other city was not true. Earlier S Venkatnarayanan, President of FCC of South Asia, welcomed the high commissioner and recalled the strong bonds both countries enjoyed. Dr Prakash Anand recalled the high commissioners illustrious career as a diplomat, academician and a former minister who had handled several portfolios and as advisor to several Presidents of the country. Dr Awal Waied, proposed a vote of thanks and asked the president to present an honorary membership to the club.