Will be first responder: PM Modi to Sri Lanka

New Delhi, July 21

Prime Minister Modi and his Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday jointly inaugurated via video link the nationwide expansion of the National Emergency Ambulance Service in the island nation aided by India.

The project agreed upon during PM Modi’s first Sri Lanka visit in 2015 was launched a year later in the southern and western provinces in first under the Indian Grant Assistance of more than $7.5 million.

The ceremony marked second phase of expansion of the project from the northern territories, once ravaged by civil war and insurgency unleashed by LTTE.

“India is happy to work with you for wiping tears from the past and ushering in a bright future,” said PM Modi, calling Wickramesinghe his “personal friend”.  “In good times and bad, India has been and will always be the first responder for Sri Lanka,” he added. Wikramesinghe is scheduled to visit India in early August.  — TNS