Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi will arrive in the country as previously scheduled on Wednesday for an overnight state visit when he will also inaugurate the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project along with President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Though neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Iranian embassy in Colombo have confirmed the dates of the state visit, government sources told the Sunday Times they were going ahead with the visit as previously scheduled. The visit will include official talks between the two countries, a state banquet, and possibly a joint communiqué. An official Iranian delegation was in Sri Lanka earlier in the week for preliminary discussions.
The special aircraft carrying President Raisi is due to land at the Mattala International Airport on Wednesday morning. He will then travel directly to the inauguration ceremony to be held at Uma Oya. Thereafter, the visiting president and his entourage will travel to Colombo for talks with Sri Lankan leaders.
Mr. Raisi’s wife and daughter are also expected to arrive in Sri Lanka with him.
The USD 529 million Iranian-Sri Lankan Uma Oya project that began in 2010 is due to add 120 megawatts of hydroelectricity to the national grid once it is operational. Water from the project is also expected to facilitate the cultivation of 15,000 acres of paddy lands during both the Yala and Maha seasons.
This is expected to extend later to facilitate the cultivation of a further 30,000 acres of paddy lands in the Hambantota District. The project is also expected to fulfil the drinking water needs of residents in the Badulla, Bandarawela and Monaragala districts.
Iranian officials have confirmed that the visit is on schedule after earlier fears that it might be put off following tensions in West Asia. Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel on April 14 in response to a suspected Israeli airstrike on April 1 that targeted a compound at its Consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing seven Iranians, including two senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Early on Friday (19), Israel launched what is seen as a limited retaliatory strike near the strategic Iranian city of Isfahan. But Iran claimed it shot down the drones.