1. On the occasion of the 67th Independence Day of India, I extend my greetings and best wishes to my fellow citizens of India and to the friendly people and the government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

2. While Independence Day is an occasion for us to recall the sacrifices made by our founding fathers and to savour the freedom they won for us from colonial shackles, it is also a time to take stock of how we have fared over the past year, compared to what we set out to achieve. The past one year has been an eventful one for India. While the global economic downturn has temporarily slowed down India’s economic growth, which had reached an impressive average of 8% over the last decade, we have been largely successful in tackling the slowdown with firmness and, in the process, addressing a number of underlying domestic constraints. India’s response has been appreciated by the international community and we are poised to regain the growth trajectory of previous years and exceed 6% growth in the next financial year. We have not allowed the economic slowdown to deflect us from our vision of inclusive growth. With increased food grain production and the passage of the Food Security Ordinance, coupled with other programmes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the growth in rural infrastructure, we have been able to achieve an impressive reduction in the percentage of population below the poverty line. The key social sectors of education and healthcare have also seen significant improvement with near universal primary enrolment, increased literacy figures, empowerment of women and eradication of polio. These are milestones that will serve as the foundation as we move forward to build a progressively better future for our people.

3. The past year has witnessed dynamic developments in our strong, friendly and time-tested relations. We have had a number of high-level exchanges, including at the level of Head of State, Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentarians. H.E. President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited India in September 2012 and met President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. He also visited Sanchi in January 2013 to lay the foundation for the University of Buddhist and Indic Studies. Hon. Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs of Sri Lanka, visited India for the Eighth Meeting of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission in January 2013. Hon. Basil Rajapaksa, Minister for Economic Development, visited India in July 2013, for bilateral consultations. From the Indian side, Hon'ble Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Smt. Meira Kumar, led a 60-member delegation consisting of Members of Parliament and Members of State Legislative Assemblies and Councils for the 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting in Colombo in September 2012. Shri Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce, Industry & Textiles, visited Sri Lanka in connection with the inauguration of “The India Show - Land of Limitless Opportunities” in Colombo in August 2012. Mr. Shivshankar Menon, National Security Adviser of India, visited Colombo in July 2013 to participate in the 2nd NSA-Level Meeting on Trilateral Cooperation on Maritime Security between India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. A five-member multi-party delegation visited Sri Lanka in April 2013, as part of a track-2 political dialogue supported by FICCI for enhancing parliamentary interaction and understanding between the two countries. A delegation representing the India Foundation, led by Shri. Ravishankar Prasad, Hon’ble Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, visited Sri Lanka in June 2013. These visits have imparted fresh dynamism to bilateral relations.

4. India and Sri Lanka enjoy a vibrant and growing economic and commercial partnership, with both trade and investment expanding greatly in recent years. Since the operationalization of the India - Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2000, trade has multiplied by as much as 8 times, crossing the milestone of US$ 5 billion in 2011-12. The FTA has thus proved to be a real engine of growth for bilateral commercial interaction. Leading Indian companies have displayed great interest in Sri Lanka, investing in the country across sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing, services, and construction. The cumulative FDI approvals for Indian investments stand at about US$ 1 billion since 2003, with investment inflows of US$160 million in 2012. In addition, nearly US$ 2 billion worth of FDI has been committed by Indian companies for the next five years or so. The investment flow is by no means one-sided, as Sri Lankan companies too are finding opportunities in the large Indian market, leveraging FTA provisions.

5. In fact, bilateral economic cooperation today extends across multiple areas of engagement, going beyond just trade in goods, to include services, tourism, infrastructure, education, science and technology, and agriculture. Air connectivity has gone up manifold and there are about 120 flights a week between Colombo and eight destinations in India; almost one-fifth of tourist arrivals into Sri Lanka are from India. The beneficial synergy in bilateral economic relations is best illustrated by the container traffic of Colombo Port, which handles over thirty percent of the total container transhipment business of India; India-linked cargo, in turn, accounts for over three-fourths of Colombo Port’s total container transhipment volume.

6. This dynamic economic relationship is set for further expansion. During the visit of Shri Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce, Industry & Textiles, Government of India, to Sri Lanka in August 2012, both sides decided to take several key steps to further deepen trade and investment relations, including by focusing on increasing Sri Lanka’s export capacity with promotion of manufacturing of products like automobile parts, engineering products and pharmaceuticals with Indian investment and forging linkages across the production and supply chains of the two countries. A Joint Task Force was constituted to follow up on these proposals and the first meeting took place in June 2013 in Colombo, during the visit of India’s Commerce Secretary to Sri Lanka, which also witnessed discussions to impart a fresh impetus to the overall economic agenda. We have set for ourselves an ambitious target of doubling bilateral trade to reach US$ 10 billion in the next three years. At the eighth meeting of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission held on 22 January 2013 in New Delhi, we agreed to hold intensive consultations towards forging a special economic partnership for comprehensive economic engagement, taking trade, tourism and investment relations to the next level.

7. After decades of armed conflict, when the people of Sri Lanka are staking a claim to a peaceful future, the Government and the people of India remain committed to assisting them in their endeavours for rehabilitation and reconstructionOur assistance to the Sri Lankan people, appreciated for its timeliness and phased approach, has evolved taking into account the ground situation and the immediate needs of the people at any given time.The second phase of our flagship Housing Project for construction of 43,000 houses under the owner-driven model, which was launched in the Northern Province on 2 October 2012, is making good progress. More than 13,000 houses are in various stages of construction and are expected to be completed by the end of this year, exceeding the target of 10000 houses envisioned earlier. The housing project has also been launched in the Eastern Province. We hope to commence soon the implementation of the third phase of the housing project, involving construction of 4,000 houses for estate workers in Central & Uva Provinces, as well as 2,000 houses for the most vulnerable sections in the Northern & Eastern Provinces. We expect that the target of completion of all the 50,000 houses to be constructed under the Project will be reached before the end of 2015.

8. The reconstruction project for the Northern Railway line, under Indian lines of credit, is progressing smoothly and is expected to be completed by April 2014, ahead of schedule. The Medawachchiya-Madhu Road section was inaugurated in April 2013. We expect that the Kilinochchi-Omanthai section would be ready for operations by next monthOur vision is to see the Yala Devi Express , which used to ply on this route, restart its services in 2014. Complementing our assistance in the railways sector, we have helped remove wrecks from the Kankesanthurai Harbour and completed the process of dredging the port. Our efforts would also be to enhance sea-side connectivity by restarting the ferry service between Rameswaram and Talaimannar. For this purpose, we are helping reconstruct the pier at Talaimannar. We have also succeeded in resolving outstanding issues relating to the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the Sampur Power Project, which when implemented, will be one of the largest bilateral joint venture projects of its kind. Our efforts will be to get the plant to go on stream by 2016.Under our Small Development Project Scheme, we have successfully completed a number of other projects and continue to expand our portfolio of projects in diverse sectors such as health, education, agriculture, fishing, livelihood restoration, community empowerment, and culture. A three-fold increase in scholarship support to deserving Sri Lankan students, through a grant assistance of Rs. 2.5 billion over the next three years, has also been operationalised, as part of the “India-Sri Lanka Knowledge Initiative”.

9. The bilateral defence cooperation between India and Sri Lanka has been developing steadily, with the ongoing training of Sri Lankan defence personnel in India, the Annual Defence Dialogue, service-level Staff Talks and various operational interactions held last year. To provide impetus to the training, three ships from the 1st Training squadron of the Indian Navy had visited Colombo in April 2013. 250 cadets/ trainee officers from the Sri Lankan Navy embarked onboard the Indian ships for sea experience. The high level exchange of visits during last year included the visit of India’s Chief of Army Staff in December 2012, the visit of the Vice Chief of Naval Staff to participate in “Galle Dialogue 2012”, the visit of the Director General Indian Coast Guard in June 2013, the visit of the National Security Adviser to participate in the Trilateral Meeting for Cooperation in Maritime Security between Maldives, Sri Lanka and India, and the visit to India of a high-level delegation led by the Sri Lankan Chief of Defence Staff in January 2013. There have also been operational interactions between the armed forces of the two countries, with the conduct of a joint Special Forces exercise between the Indian Army and Sri Lanka Army. Sports interactions between the two sides have also been a regular feature.

10. People to people links constitute one of the cardinal pillars of the special relationship between India and Sri Lanka which is rooted in close social, economic, cultural, educational and religious ties and which has matured and diversified with the passage of time. The 8th Joint Commission Meeting decided to jointly commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda this year and that of Anagarika Dharmapala next year. In this connection, I would like to thank H.E. the President of Sri Lanka for releasing a special commemorative postal stamp of Swami Vivekananda in June 2013.

11. Buddhism originated in India and spread peacefully to many other parts of the world. It continues to be one of the common threads that bind India and Sri Lanka together. The successful organization of the exposition of the Sacred Kapilavastu Relics in Sri Lanka last year, for the second time in 34 years, the visit of H.E. the President of Sri Lanka to India in September 2012 to inaugurate the University of Buddhist and Indic Studies at Sanchi and again in January 2013 to Bodh Gaya and the series of events organized by the two countries to jointly commemorate the 2600th anniversary of the Attainment of Enlightenment by Lord Buddha (Sambuddhatva Jayanthi) stand testimony to the fact that we cherish Buddhism as an important dimension of our common heritage. Recently, the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya, one of the holiest shrines of Buddhism, was targeted by a series of explosions. It was a cynical ploy to sow the seeds of discord among various communities living peacefully in India on the basis of mutual respect and tolerance. Both Hon’ble President and Hon’ble Prime Minister of India have condemned these attacks and have noted that India’s composite culture and traditions teach us respect for all religions and that such attacks on religious places will never be tolerated.

12. India believes that the end of the armed conflict presents an unparalleled opportunity to build a better future for all the people of Sri Lanka. There has been impressive progress towards the resettlement of IDPs and reconstruction of physical infrastructure in the conflict-affected areas; India has assisted in these endeavours. We look forward to early conclusion of the ongoing efforts to implement the many constructive recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. Expeditious implementation of these recommendations will mark a major step forward in the process of national reconciliation. India will continue to support moves towards an early political settlement to address the ethnic issue.

13. India has emphasized the need for adhering to the commitments made by Government of Sri Lanka to India and the international community on a durable political settlement in Sri Lanka. We welcome the holding of elections to the Northern Provincial Council and hope that the elections would be held in a free, fair and credible manner. We have also conveyed to the Sri Lankan leadership our views on recent political developments and look forward to further steps that facilitate the process of national reconciliation,inter alia through the meaningful devolution of powers, so as to ensure that all citizens of Sri Lanka, including the Sri Lankan Tamil community, feel they are equal stake-holders and are able to lead a life marked by equality, justice, dignity and self-respect.

14. I would like to conclude on a personal note. Since taking up my assignment in Colombo a few weeks ago, my wife and I have been received with open arms by all those we have met. We have personally experienced the hospitality that Sri Lanka and its people are famous for and have been made to feel very much at home. Both of us are greatly touched by the warmth and friendship extended to us. I look forward to my stay in Colombo and to working towards taking India-Sri Lanka ties to a new high.