The India-Sri Lanka Foundation (ISLF) has approved 13 projects worth about Rs. 21 million aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two countries in areas including education, culture, agriculture, science and technology.
The projects were approved at the foundation’s 41st Board of Directors meeting in New Delhi on Aug. 28, co-chaired by Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Mahishini Colonne and Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha.
More than 500 project proposals were received by the Colombo Secretariat, of which 137 were shortlisted following a vetting process. Twenty proposals were submitted to the board for consideration, with 13 receiving approval.
The board also noted increased public interest in the foundation’s activities in both countries. The New Delhi Secretariat received 149 proposals from Indian nationals despite not issuing a formal call for proposals ahead of the meeting because of financial constraints.
Against this backdrop, the board highlighted the need to strengthen the foundation’s financial capacity, saying an expanded Corpus Fund would allow it to support more initiatives and provide additional opportunities for people-to-people exchanges between Sri Lanka and India.
Established in 1998 through an agreement between the two governments, the foundation promotes bilateral ties through economic, scientific, educational, technical and cultural cooperation and supports exchanges involving students, academics, researchers, professionals and artists.
The meeting was also attended by board members Prasad Kariyawasam, Mohan Kumar and Ashok Malik