India, Lanka ink five pacts during Krishna visit

Colombo, Jan.17 (ANI): India and Sri Lanka on Tuesday signed five agreements on the sidelines of a visit by External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna.

The agreements included a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a housing project; which involves the construction of about 50,000 houses for vulnerable sections of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). A pilot project for construction of first 1,000 houses is already in an advance stage of completion. The MOU was signed by Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his Sri Lankan counterpart Professor G.L. Peiris.

India has also agreed to extend a line of credit worth over 382 dollars for the restoration of Northern Railway services. The line of credit will be used for track layingn the Pallai-Kankesanthurai Railway line, setting up of signaling and telecommunications systems for the Northern railway line and other projects as may be mutually agreed by India and Sri Lanka. This agreement was signed by T.C.A.Ranganathan, Chairman and Managing Director of the EXIM Bank of India and Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Secretary in the Sri Lankan Ministry of Finance and Planning.

Both sides also inked a buyer's credit agreement for US dollars 60.69 million. This agreement was also signed by T.C.A.Ranganathan, Chairman and Managing Director of the EXIM Bank of India and Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Secretary in the Sri Lankan Ministry of Finance and Planning and would be used to finance the Greater Dambulla Water Supply Project.

Both sides also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to extend cooperation in the field of agriculture. Under this MoU, both sides shall promote the development of cooperation in the fields of agricultural science and technology, agricultural production and agro-processing through joint activities, programmes, exchange of scientific materials, information and personnel. The cooperation will be effected through biennial work Plans and joint activities.

It was signed by India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ashok Kantha and Sri Lanka's Agriculture Secretary W. Sakalasooriya.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka also signed an MoU under which a mechanism of technical and institutional cooperation in the field of telecommunications will be established with the purpose of development of telecommunications in both the countries.

This agreement was signed by Dr. J.S. Sarma, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and Anusha Palpita, Director General Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka. (ANI)