Indian Foreign Secretary to visit Colombo Wednesday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 November 2006, 03:27 GMT]
Mr.Shiv Shankar Menon, India's Foreign Secretary, is scheduled to arrive in Colombo on November 22 to hand over a special message from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse before the latter visits New Delhi, media sources in Colombo said. Mr.Shiv Shankar Menon is to meet Mahinda Rajapakse on 23 November.

Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse is tentatively scheduled to meet Mr.Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on 28 November.

For Mr.Shiv Shankar Menon, this is his first visit to Colombo after assuming the post of Foreign Secretary, sources said.

He will be in Colombo from 22 November to 24 November. He is expected to meet Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, opposition leader and leaders of Tamil and Muslim political parties, sources said.

Meanwhile Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe is also expected to visit New Delhi to hold discussion with Indian political leadership between 27-29 November.

This would be his first visit to India after signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) on identified issues giving top priority to the ethnic conflict, media sources said.