Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to begin a three-day visit to India Tuesday, and will meet with his counterpart Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The visit was one of growing concern in Sri Lanka over a proposed comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) between the two neighbors.
Both the opposition and some in the government has urged Rajapaksa not to continue with the agreement that goes beyond the bilateral trade and also offers services, reports the Sunday Times.
The protesters claimed that the CEPA would give the Indians to enter the service sector, which would be detrimental to Sri Lanka.
Rajapaksa visit also comes as Sri Lanka have been looking to accelerate the rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the north, which was liberated from the Tamil rebels last year.
India already has a contract to rebuild the damaged rail network in the north and better track in the northern airbase. India is also working on a coal-fired power generation project in the northeastern part of Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, a 30-member Chinese delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Dejiang is due in Sri Lanka Thursday for a three-day visit. It is expected that China will agree to lend Sri Lanka 200 million U.S. dollars to build a new international airport in the south and an additional 100 million U.S. dollars to upgrade the railway network.
Both China and India supported Sri Lanka in its efforts to crush the rebels in the war of liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The 26-year battle against the rebels ended in May last year after the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed.
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