Modi says India plans to supply LNG to Sri Lanka, connect power grids
Adds details of joint statement from paragraph 2
NEW DELHI, Dec 16 (Reuters) -India plans to supply liquefied natural gas to Sri Lanka's power plants and will work on connecting the power grids of the two countries as well as lay a petroleum pipeline between the neighbours, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday.
Modi was speaking at a joint press briefing with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in New Delhi.
Dissanayake is on his first official visit to Sri Lanka's powerful neighbour after winning the presidency in September and securing a landslide parliamentary election victory last month.
Indian state-run firmPetronet LNG PLNG.NS has signed a deal to supply liquefied natural gas to Sri Lankan engineering firm LTL Holdings' power plants in Colombo for five years through its terminal in the southern Indian city of Kochi.
Both sides also discussed a plan to connect power grids and lay a multi-product petroleum pipeline between the two countries, a joint statement from the Indian External Affairs Ministry said.
The two countries also agreed to jointly develop offshore wind power potential in the Palk Straits, an area where India's Adani Green Energy Ltd. ADNA.NS already has plans to invest $442 million in two wind power stations.
Sri Lanka is reviewing the wind power project along with a $553 million terminal project at the Colombo port also linked to Adani Ports APSE.NS. But it was unclear if the projects were discussed during the meeting between Modi and Dissanayake.
Last month, U.S. authorities accused Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and seven others of being part of a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials, and of misleading U.S. investors while raising funds there.
The ports-to-power conglomerate has termed the allegations "baseless" and said it would seek "all possible legal recourse".
India extended more than $4 billion in aid to Sri Lanka when the island nation's economy plunged into a severe financial crisis in 2022 and entered into a preliminary debt restructuring agreement, along with other bilateral creditors Japan and China, in July.
The two countries will now finalise discussions on the bilateral memorandum of understanding needed to complete the debt restructuring process, the joint statement added.
Reporting by Shanima A in Mumbai and Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Editing by YP Rajesh
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