May 14, Colombo: The Government of India has decided to supply 65,000 metric tons of urea required for paddy cultivation in the Yala season to Sri Lanka immediately under the existing loan facility.

High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in New Delhi Milinda Moragoda met with the Secretary of the Department of Fertilizers of India Shri Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi on Thursday (12) to discuss on the supply of urea required for the current Yala cultivation season in Sri Lanka, the High Commission said.

The meeting came in the wake of the decision of the Government of India to immediately supply 65,000 metric tons of urea to Sri Lanka, which is the total requirement for paddy in the current Yala cultivation season, under the existing one billion USD credit line.

The Indian Government has decided to supply this quantity of urea immediately to Sri Lanka at the request of the Sri Lankan government, despite a ban on export of urea from India.

High Commissioner Moragoda thanked Secretary Chaturvedi for his personal involvement in arranging necessary approvals and logistics to supply 65,000 metric tons of urea to Sri Lanka in consultation with the High Commissioner of India in Colombo Gopal Baglay.

In response, Chaturvedi said that his Department is always ready to support Sri Lanka in keeping with India’s ‘neighborhood first’ policy, and that the Department is making arrangements to ship the required quantity of urea from the nearest port to Sri Lanka through a State Company coming under his purview.

The High Commissioner and the Secretary also discussed ways and means to ensure the continuous supply of chemical fertilizer from India to Sri Lanka under the existing credit line and beyond.