He said this when he called on Prime Minister Dinesh Gunwardena at the Prime minister’s Office in Colombo yrsterday (August 29). Mr Doval said India wanted to further expand cooperation with Sri Lanka and sought the Prime Minister’s views on priority requirements.

The Prime Minister said the energy sector is one area and thanked India for supporting the large scale and small scale alternative energy projects. He said that the government has taken steps to amend the Ceylon Electricity Board regulations to facilitate private sector participation in electricity generation and distribution and Indian investments could be increased in solar and wind power projects.

Mr Doval said in the long run Sri Lanka could generate more power than its domestic requirement and sell excess power to India and gain huge financial benefits. He pointed out that Bhutan is selling large amount of hydro power generated electricity to India and it is the largest revenue of that country.

The Prime Minister said Sri Lanka’s theravada economic policy is based from the economic practices in India 25 centuries ago during the time of Gauthama Buddha and it would be complementary for economic growth.

He thanked India for the proving training for armed forces members and the public servants to enhance their skills and efficiency.

The National Security Advisor led a high-level delegation comprising High Commissioner Santosh Jha , Additional Secretary Puneet Agrawal and senior officials Akshay Joshi, Gaurav Aluwhalia and Teja Chandan.

Secretary to the Prime Minister, Anura Dissanayake, Additional Secretary Harsha Wijewardene and Advisor Sugeeswara Senadhira also took part in the discussion.