India and Sri Lanka begin joint work to establish land bridge
India and Sri Lanka have begun joint work to establish a land bridge, the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, Santosh Jha said.
The High Commissioner said the land bridge will help promote tourism between the two countries.
He said the land bridge between both countries will be a game changer and will bring many benefits to communities along the alignment of this connectivity but more specifically, it will make Ramayana and Buddhism tourism easier and more alluring to people on both sides.
“Our effort to establish the land bridge, on which we have begun our joint work, promises to further provide fillip to our ongoing efforts to promote tourism between our two countries. No doubt that it will be a game changer. It will, of course, bring many benefits to communities along the alignment of this connectivity but more specifically, it will make Ramayana and Buddhism tourism easier and more alluring to people on both sides.
I must also add that the Ramayana trail also confirms the deep people-to-people connect and shared civilisational antiquity of India and Sri Lanka,” he said.
He said this at the official launch of the “Ramayana Trail – The Sacred Mission” Project organised by the Supreme Global Holdings group held at Hotel Taj Samudra, Colombo.
“Their presence here confirms that the deep connection between the people of two countries goes back several centuries into antiquity. A time when people and ideas were moving across seamlessly and without the modern impositions that sometimes constrain and restrict easy travel and connections between our peoples. We were reminded of this connect recently by His Excellency President Ranil Wickremesinghe who mentioned that even as we launch the Universal Payments Interface or the UPI in Sri Lanka, which will allow Indian tourists to make payments in Indian rupees in Sri Lanka, there is evidence of the use of each other’s coins or ancient currencies in both India and Sri Lanka deep into our antiquity,” he said.
The High Commissioner said that he is glad the idea of Ramayana trail has caught up the imagination of the people on both sides of the Palk strait.
“Promoting tourism is an important objective of both our countries. For Sri Lanka, in particular, it has been an important source of economic activity and promotion of Ramayana trail holds a significant promise,” he said.
The High Commissioner also said that leaders of both countries have pledged to promote the Buddhist circuit and the Ramayana trail in both countries in the Vision Document that was issued when President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had their summit meeting in New Delhi in July 2023.
He noted that India already contributes more than 1/5th of the tourist arrivals into Sri Lanka and India is also the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka. (Colombo Gazette)
