President Murmu felicitates Sri Lankan counterpart Wickremesinghe; hopes for stronger bilateral ties

New Delhi, July 29: President Draupadi Murmu has expressed hope that the long-standing bilateral partnership between India and Sri Lanka based on shared heritage and deep people-to-people ties will strengthen further as she felicitated her newly-appointed Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka's eighth president on July 21 after he was elected by lawmakers to succeed Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled the country and resigned in the face of public revolt against his government for mismanaging the economy. The 73-year-old veteran politician will serve out the rest of his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa's term, which ends in November 2024.

''President of India felicitated H.E President @RW_UNP. Wishing success to the President of Sri Lanka in her letter, Rashtrapati noted that #India's commitment to the people of Sri Lanka is guided by the 'Neighbourhood First' policy,'' the Indian High Commission here tweeted on Friday.

The President also expressed hope that the long-standing India-Sri Lanka bilateral partnership based on shared heritage and deep people to people ties will strengthen further, it said.

Murmu, 64, took over as India's 15th president on Monday, the country's first tribal head of state and the second woman in the post.

The President's felicitation to her new Sri Lankan counterpart Wickremesinghe came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated him and said that India will continue to be supportive of the quest of the people of the island nation for stability and economic recovery, through established democratic means.

Modi also conveyed to Wickremesinghe that he looked forward to working closely with the new Sri Lankan President for the mutual benefit of people and strengthening the age-old, close and friendly relations between the two countries, the Indian High Commission tweeted on Tuesday.