Sri Lankan PM’s India Visit: Strengthening Bilateral Ties

In a visit laden with diplomacy, trade, and symbolism, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya‘s India Visit 2025 will commence on Thursday, marking her first official trip to the country since assuming office last year.

The three-day visit from October 16 to 18, 2025, is set against the backdrop of her recent tour to Beijing, where she participated in the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women 2025 and held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Her engagements in New Delhi will highlight Sri Lanka’s delicate balancing of ties between its two closest partners—India and China.

Sri Lankan: Key Meetings with Indian Leadership

According to officials, Ms. Amarasuriya will hold discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, focusing on trade, investment, education, and regional cooperation. Both sides are expected to emphasize India’s Neighbourhood First and MAHASAGAR Vision strategies, alongside Colombo’s stated policy of neutrality in global affairs.

Prime Minister Modi, who visited Sri Lanka in April 2025, had earlier expressed gratitude for Colombo’s sensitivity to Indian concerns under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s administration. The New Delhi talks are expected to build on that momentum, exploring fresh avenues of cooperation in infrastructure, technology, and development partnerships.

Business, Education, and Technology Links

Apart from political engagements, Ms. Amarasuriya will interact with Indian industry leaders and business chambers to deepen commercial linkages. She is also slated to deliver the keynote address at the NDTV World Summit, co-hosted by NDTV and Chintan Research Foundation.

Her itinerary includes a visit to IIT Delhi and NITI Aayog, where discussions will center on joint projects in education, research, and innovation. As Sri Lanka’s Education Minister, her emphasis on academic collaboration reflects her long-standing background as an anthropologist and educator.

Sri Lankan: A Sentimental Homecoming to Hindu College

One of the most anticipated events of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya India Visit 2025 is her return to Hindu College, Delhi University, where she studied sociology between 1991 and 1994.

The college will host a ceremonial reception featuring a Guard of Honour by NCC cadets, cultural performances, and the inauguration of a new ethnographic laboratory named in her honor. She will also revisit her old classroom—Classroom 27—reconnecting with the corridors that shaped her student years.

Principal Anju Srivastava described the event as “a momentous occasion of homecoming,” adding that Amarasuriya’s journey from a Delhi University student to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka is an inspiration for generations.

Balancing Colombo’s Strategic Diplomacy

Amarasuriya’s visit to India comes just days after her meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing, where China pledged expanded cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, digital and green economies, and port development under the Belt and Road Initiative.

With both India and China vying for influence in the Indian Ocean, her New Delhi visit is seen as part of Colombo’s effort to maintain a balanced and pragmatic foreign policy that prioritizes Sri Lanka’s economic revival.

An Academic-Turned-Politician with a Vision

Before her foray into politics in 2020, Ms. Amarasuriya was a respected academic and activist, advocating for better public education and mental health policies. As a member of the Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms, she played a role in shaping Sri Lanka’s democratic discourse.

Her rise to the premiership in 2024 marked a new chapter for the island nation, with her leadership style often described as consultative, people-centered, and reform-driven.

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