World News | India stands with Sri Lankans as they seek to fulfill their aspirations: MEA

New Delhi [India]July 10 (ANI): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that India stands with the people of Sri Lanka who seek prosperity and progress through democratic means and a constitutional framework and continue to focus on the development of the island nation.

Protesters stormed the official residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa before storming the private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and set fire to it on Saturday.

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Amid ongoing protests, both President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe have announced their resignations.

“We will continue to closely monitor recent developments in Sri Lanka,” Foreign Minister Spokesperson Alindan Budge said in a statement. “India stands with the Sri Lankan people as they seek to achieve their aspirations for prosperity and progress through democratic means and values. together., established institutional and constitutional framework.”

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In response to the situation in Sri Lanka, a spokesman for the multilateral environmental agreement said that India is Sri Lanka’s nearest neighbor, and the two countries have deep cultural roots. “We are aware of the many challenges facing Sri Lanka and its people, and we stand with the people of Sri Lanka as we work to overcome this difficult time,” he said in a statement.

In keeping with Sri Lanka’s centrality to its neighbouring priorities policy, India this year provided an unprecedented $3.8 billion in support to ease Sri Lanka’s dire economic situation.

The country’s deteriorating economic situation has led to heightened tensions, with reports in the past few weeks of several hours of confrontations between thousands of desperate members of the public and members of the police and armed forces at petrol stations. even days. Police sometimes disproportionately use tear gas and water cannons. At times, the armed forces also fire live ammunition.

Sri Lanka is suffering from its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948, followed by successive waves of COVID-19 that threaten to disrupt years of development and severely reduce the country’s ability to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). .

Oil shortages forced schools and government offices to close until further notice.

Shortages have been exacerbated by falling domestic agricultural production, insufficient foreign exchange reserves and a weakening local currency. The economic crisis will push households into hunger and poverty — some for the first time — adding to the World Bank’s estimate of half a million people pushed below the poverty line by the pandemic. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)