S Jaishankar calls on Maithripala Sirisena, meets TNA delegation

COLOMBO: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar today called on Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and discussed recent political developments in the island nation amid government's efforts to achieve reconciliation with the minority Tamil community after decades of civil war.

Jaishankar, who arrived here on Saturday, also met a delegation from the main Tamil party Tamil National Alliance ( TNA), sources said.

Jaishankar had a useful exchange with the TNA delegation on the outstanding issues faced by the Tamils in the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan government is seeking to achieve reconciliation with the Tamil community after the nearly three-decades long civil war came to an end with the defeat of the LTTE in 2009.

He called on President Sirisena and discussed recent political developments in Sri Lanka, officials said.

"It was a pleasure meeting India's foreign secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar this morning," Sirisena tweeted.

This is Jaishankar's second visit to Sri Lanka. This was to be a follow-up visit on checking the progress of Indo-Lanka collaboration in a number of sectors, including power, highways, airport, hydrocarbon etc., officials said.

Jaishankar will visit China to attend the first round of India-China Strategic Dialogue on February 22, after which he will be in Dhaka from February 23-24.