New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said what happens politically in Sri Lanka is for their politics to work out, adding "India did not provide financial assistance or engage in projects with neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to control their internal politics".
Speaking at an event hosted by foreign policy think tank Asia Society Policy Institute in New York, Jaishankar on Tuesday said the financial assistance of about $4.5 billion provided by New Delhi to Colombo since 2022, when the island nation plunged into economic crisis, was not offered unconditionally.
'What happens politically in Sri Lanka, that is for their politics to work out. At the end of the day, each neighbour has its own dynamics. Not our intention, that their dynamics must adhere to us", he added. "It was not that we had a political conditionality which accompanied that (financial assistance)," he said.
"We were doing it as a good neighbour who did not want to see that kind of economic meltdown at our doorstep," Jaishankar said. His response comes a day after Leftist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake was sworn in as Sri Lanka's President.
Further, commenting on the situation in Bangladesh, Jaishankar said the case is a bit different as far as Bangladesh is concerned noting that both sides have done multiple projects and both countries have benefitted out of it.
"We have done projects of various kinds, that is good for both of us. Both countries have gained out of that," Jaishankar said. He pointed to "realities of interdependency" as he hoped the India-Bangladesh relationship to be positive and constructive.
In August, an interim govt was formed in Bangladesh after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina. It was for the first time since Hasina's exit, Jaishankar on Tuesday met the Bangladesh foreign minister Md.Touhid Hosaain on the sidelines of UNGA in New York. The discussion from focussed on bilateral issues.
As per sources, Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain said in September that the interim government may review specific memorandum of understanding signed with India if they are not beneficial to its interests.
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