'Cooperation between fishermen and Sri Lanka to be stressed'

NAGAPATTINAM: India will stress the need for cooperation between fishermen of the country and Sri Lanka during visit of the President of the Island Nation Maithripala Sirisena next week, Union Minister of State Pon Radhakrishnan said today.

The BJP Government at the Centre was concentrating on the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian fishermen and expressed hope that Sirisena's four-day official visit from February 15 would help resolve problems faced by the fishermen, he said here.

He hoped that Sirisena's visit would open a new chapter on the issue of the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils.

In his address on the Sri Lanka's 67th anniversary of independence on February 4, Sirisena had said his government would pursue a foreign policy of neutrality to win over the international community to develop the island.