Colombo (PTI): With the Sri Lankan military stepping up is offensive against the LTTE, India on Saturday said it desired a "political" solution to the 25-year-old Tamil ethnic problem that is acceptable to all sections of the Sri Lankan society.
Maintaining that New Delhi was committed to the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the island country, Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Alok Prasad said a political settlement acceptable to all communities in the Island Country should be found.
"Our firm belief is that the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka has to be resolved through a political settlement acceptable to all sections of the Sri Lankan society and consistent with the principles of democracy, pluralism and human rights," he said in a statement on the occasion of 59th Republic Day.
He said being a close friend of Sri Lanka, "we have an abiding interest in peace, stability and development in this country so that it is able to harness the fruits of development taking place in our region and beyond".
Fighting in Sri Lanka has intensified since the government scrapped the 2002 ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam this month.
The head of the Indian mission said the political leadership on both sides continues to nurture the friendship that has spanned over two milliennia.
This is through sustained interaction and sharing of views on development "in our respective countries and in the world at large," the High Commissioner said.
On economic ties, Prasad said the cumulative Indian investments in Sri Lanka today stood at 300 million dollars and the recent trends indicated that there could be a massive increase in it.
"Recent trends indicate that a quantum jump in Indian investments can be expected, including in core sectors like infrastructure development, power, telecom, creation of SEZs and IT parks," he said.
The High Commissioner said the bilateral trade turnover between India and Sri Lanka had grown more than five times since March 2000 when the Free Trade Agreement came into force.
The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at 2.3 billion dollars and is expected to cross 3 billion dollars in the current financial year, the High Commissioner said, adding India was Sri Lanka's largest trading partner in South Asia.
"The heartening aspect of our recent trade relationship has been the fast pace of growth of Sri Lankan exports which have grown nine-fold in the last seven years as against a fourfold rise in Indian exports to Sri Lanka," he said.
India is also Sri Lanka's largest source of imports.Source: Hindu
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