A delegation of media personnel from India and Nepal expressed high appreciation to Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena for the steps taken by the government to face economic challenges and ensure a quick recovery in a short span of time. The delegation said this when they met the Prime Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office in Colombo today (Nov 3).
Prime Minister Gunawardena thanked India for extending material and financial restructuring facilities to Sri Lanka in an urgent basis to get over the economic crisis and shortages of essential items.
Indian and Nepali media representatives said they were warned by many well-wishers back home not to visit Sri Lanka when the country is faced with severe hardships, but they were pleasantly surprised to find that country is absolutely normal and trouble-free for them to travel to any part of the country. They said their first task would be to remove misinformation about Sri Lanka through media and advice Indians to make Sri Lanka their next tourist destination.
“Sri Lanka is a beautiful tourist attraction and more and more Indians should visit this country,” Anbuj Maheshwari of Hindi newspaper Subhasavery in Madhya Pradesh said. He recalled his media interview with Mr Dinesh Gunawardena in Sanchi several years ago when he visited India as a Minister.
Madan Gauda of ‘Janamithra’ in Karnata said his state has close historical connections with Sri Lanka and people desire to see the places linked to Rama, Sita and Ravana.
Samjana Pudal of Madhyabindu in Nepal said people-to-people links between the two countries enhanced due to visits by Sri Lankans to Lumbini and Nepali tourists to Sri Lanka.
The delegation included Kalyan Kumar of ‘Ishri’, Chikamaglur, Madan Gauda, Sathya Narayan of Vajayavani, Mysore, Samjana Pudal, Anbuj Maheshwari, and office-bearers of Asian Media & Cultural Association, Upul Jayasinghe, Pathum Wickrenaratne and Kumudu Vajira.