COLOMBO, Oct 14: Welcoming the resumption of ferry services between Sri Lanka and India after a gap of 41 years, President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday said it will help improve the connectivity, trade and cultural links between the two countries.
India and Sri Lanka on Saturday launched ferry services between Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Kankesanthurai in Jaffna, the capital city of the Northern Province.
“Ferry service is an important step in increasing the connectivity between India and Sri Lanka. For thousands of years, people have traversed the Palk Strait to travel from the Indian subcontinent to this island and from Sri Lanka back to the Indian subcontinent. This is how our cultures have developed. This is how our trade developed,” Wickremesinghe said in a recorded video message at the inauguration of the ferry service.
Stating that the connectivity between “our two countries” was disrupted due to the war in the north, the President said, “Now peace has returned and we can re-establish the sea connectivity” and then thanked Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, the Indian Shipping Corporation “for the role they have played in re-establishing this connectivity.”
Wickremesinghe also thanked Sri Lanka’s Minister of Ports and Shipping Nimal Siripala de Silva and said, “We hope to see more and more persons coming to Sri Lanka, travelling from Sri Lanka into India.”
“The Kankesanthurai is very important. Similarly, with Palaly airport, which gives us air connectivity, and Kankesanthurai, which gives us sea connectivity, we could see an increase in transactions between our two countries,” he added.
The proposal to implement the ferry service was agreed upon during the Sri Lankan President’s visit to Delhi in July.
The high-speed ferry will be operated by the Shipping Corporation of India and has a capacity of 150 passengers. The distance of about 60 nautical miles (110 km) between Nagapattinam and Kankesanthurai will be covered in approximately 3.5 hours depending on sea conditions, according to officials.
In 1982, the regularly operated ferry service between Talaimannar in Sri Lanka and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu was abandoned as the clashes escalated in the northern province of the island nation in the campaign by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Although a ferry service between Tuticorin in India and Colombo was inaugurated in 2011, it was later discontinued due to logistical reasons.
De Silva, the Lankan Minister of Port Shipping and Aviation, noted the Indian government’s help to Sri Lanka in the island’s economic crisis. “India helped us so much. They gave us food, money and fuel. We appreciate that help so much,” he said.
Stating that this ferry service will help promote more understanding and add to the national economies of both countries, de Silva said he was looking forward to establishing the next ferry service between Sri Lanka’s Talaimannar and Rameswaram in south India.
At the launch ceremony, in a recorded video message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the launch of a ferry service between the two nations as an “important milestone” in strengthening ties as India and Sri Lanka embarked on a new chapter in diplomatic and economic relations.
Modi also noted that direct flights between Chennai and Jaffna began in 2019, and now the ferry service between Nagapattinam and Kankesanthurai is yet another important step in this direction. “Our vision for connectivity goes beyond the transport sector,” Modi said as he underlined that India and Sri Lanka collaborate closely in a wide range of areas such as fintech and energy.
Describing it as a “truly big step” for boosting people-to-people contacts, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in his remarks virtually, said that New Delhi has a “generous and far-sighted approach” to its proximate nations, with a focus on connectivity, cooperation and contacts. (PTI)
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