Why Washington is moving close to Colombo

'What we have heard from the Sri Lankans is their desire to have a foreign policy that allows Sri Lanka to best advance its own interests rather than a foreign policy that relied solely on one relationship.'

'We think this is an attitude that makes a lot of sense. India and Sri Lanka have many areas of shared interests, and it's certainly welcomed by us to see that deepening of those ties.'

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in Colombo, March, 2015. Photograph: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

IMAGE: In May 2015, US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Reuters

February 25, 2016

On the eve of the first-ever US-Sri Lanka Strategic Dialogue in Washington, DC, Nisha Desai Biswal, the Obama administration's point person for South Asia, lauds Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not only immediately visiting the island nation after its January 8, 2015 election, but also pledging a strong commitment to an economic partnership with Sri Lanka.

Biswal, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, acknowledged in an exclusive interview withAziz Haniffa/Rediff.com, that as India was an undisputed power in the region, on issues such as this that was envisaged to assist in the economic development and rehabilitation of Sri Lanka -- wracked by over two-decades of war -- it was only natural that the US would consult with India, as Washington would with Delhi on issues in the Asia-Pacific region and/or the Indian Ocean region.

On the eve of the first-ever US-Sri Lanka Strategic Partnership Dialogue what's the rationale for it?

We are calling this a Partnership Dialogue between the United States and Sri Lanka and we're very excited that later this week, we will be launching our first Partnership Dialogue.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera is going to be in town with a delegation and we have Secretary of State John F Kerry and Under Secretary Tom Shannon who is going to actually chair the dialogue, and various other bilateral meetings that are being teed up for this.

What we are particularly pleased is that US-Sri Lanka relations are really focusing on the broad and enormous potential.

We have always thought that Sri Lanka was an important partner for the United States. In the past, we have been somewhat constrained in being able to talk about the broad areas of partnership because there were a number of issues where we felt that the previous government was not being responsive and not making progress.

With the new government under the leadership of President Maitripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, what we have seen is that there is a very strong desire on the part of that government to have positive, productive and elevated relations with the United States and with the broader international community.

And just as importantly, a very strong commitment to address and make progress on areas of longstanding concern about accountability stemming from the terrible conflict that wracked Sri Lanka for so long, and for trying to really, sincerely, and actively promote reconciliation, promote justice for victims of that conflict.

So, we see that we have a partner in the government of Sri Lanka as we've always seen a partnership with the people of Sri Lanka, but also now with the government to try to advance a broad, a comprehensive relationship between our two countries and between the two peoples.

The last few months, in fact I guess with Secretary Kerry getting out there, you all have been very bullish on Sri Lanka. The change of policy has been quite dramatic.

What really prompted that sort of dramatic change, and how sustainable do you believe it is? Are you confident about the reconciliation process?

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