Sri Lanka – India Parliamentary Friendship Association for the Tenth Parliament of Sri Lanka was established at the Parliament complex with the presence of Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne recently. High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha was the Guest of Honour.
The meeting saw participation of nearly a 100 members including several Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MPs across political groups. Health and Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa was elected as the President of the Association. MPs G.G. Ponnambalam, J.C. Alawathuwala, Thanura Dissanayake, Ravi Karunanayake were elected as the Vice Presidents. MP Dr. Kavinda Heshan Jayawardhana was elected as the Secretary. MPs Sivagnanam Shritharan and Anushka Thilakarathne were elected as Assistant Secretaries and Plantation and Community Infrastructure Deputy Minister Sundaralingam Pradeep as the Association’s Treasurer.
Dr. Wickramaratne emphasised the unparalleled connect of shared history, religion and culture between India and Sri Lanka. He shared that India had time and again demonstrated itself as a reliable friend of Sri Lanka and welcomed the continuing expansion of the bilateral partnership.
The High Commissioner underlined the shared democratic traditions between the two ‘civilisational twins’. Congratulating the President, office-bearers and members of the Association, he expressed confidence that the Parliamentary Friendship Association further re-energise and bolster the people-to-people connect between India and Sri Lanka.
During the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Sri Lanka in April 2025, 1,000 training slots for Sri Lankans were announced. These slots cut across sectors ranging from Parliamentarians, civil services, entrepreneurship to music and cinema. Under this, the first batch of Parliamentarians and Parliamentary staff will be heading to New Delhi for a week-long training at the Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies (PRIDE) in May 2025.
The Sri Lanka-India Parliamentary Friendship Association is another step in the implementation of the joint vision ‘Fostering Partnerships for a Shared Future’ adopted by the two leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka during the latter’s visit to India in December 2024. Regular Parliamentary level exchanges to promote democratic values and share expertise on institutional best practices will further deepen the bilateral ties between the two countries and transform the relationship into a new standard for friendly and neighbourly ties.
