Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapksa will reach New Delhi on Thursday on his three-day visit to India, his first overseas trip since he took over as President this month. He is leading a high level delegation of officials including Foreign secretary Ravinatha Aryasingha.

President Rajapaksa is visiting on special invitation extended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, soon after Gotabaya emerged victorious at the Presidential elections.

He will have bilateral meeting with PM Modi on Friday and will also meet President Ramnath Kovind in addition to other important engagements.

Both leaders are likely to discuss further areas of cooperation and ways to strengthen existing bilateral relations between the two neighbours. A host of issues including stability in Indian Ocean region, economic cooperation and the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka are likely to figure during the talks.

Prime Minister Modi in his congratulatory message to Gotabaya on his victory had said that he looked forward to working closely with Sri Lankan President for deepening the close and fraternal ties between the two countries and for peace, prosperity as well as security in the region.

President Gotabaya has said in an interview recently that his country can’t engage in any activity which will threaten the security of India and that they understand the importance of the Indian concerns.