Colombo, November 2 (Language) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday visited Sri Lanka’s eastern port city of Trincomalee and inaugurated a branch of State Bank of India (SBI).
Sitharaman also praised the role of SBI in supporting corporates in international trade.
Sitharaman is on a three-day visit to Sri Lanka.
He started his day by paying homage at the main Hindu temple in the multi-ethnic city before opening a branch of the State Bank of India in Trincomalee.
Eastern Province Governor Senthil Thondaman, Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay and SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara were present at the inauguration ceremony.
After inaugurating the branch, Sitharaman praised SBI and said that with its significant presence of 159 years, it is the oldest bank in Sri Lanka and is expanding its business in the country and abroad.
He said that the presence of SBI here during the economic crisis in Sri Lanka paved the way for the smooth extension of the US$ 1 billion line of credit by India to Sri Lanka. Apart from this, SBI Sri Lanka is playing an important role by supporting the corporate world in international trade.
Sitharaman later also visited the Lanka Indian Oil Company complex in the port city.
Sitharaman’s visit is taking place at a time when the 12th round of meetings on Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) between the two countries was held after a long gap. These talks were stalled since 2018.
The talks were held between October 30 and November 1 following the visit of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe to Delhi in late July.
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