Emphasising India's committed support to the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, President A P J Abdul Kalam Wednesday night said New Delhi favoured a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the ethnic issue of the island nation.
Addressing a banquet hosted in honour of visiting President Mahinda Rajapakse in Delhi, Kalam said war, conflict and terrorism were the biggest threat to democratic societies and India stood with Sri Lanka in rejecting these.
"India remains committed in its support to the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and for a peaceful, negotiated settlement of the ethnic issue," he said.
Appreciating Rajapakse's efforts to build a national consensus on a solution within a united Sri Lanka and on the basis of maximum devolution, Kalam said India was ready to share with Colombo its experience of unity in diversity, pluralist traditions in a democracy and devolution within a federal framework.
Kalam said India was ready to assist Sri Lanka in its socio-economic progress and hoped that the two countries would reach agreement during Rajapakse's current visit on specific projects of mutual cooperation in the areas of agriculture, fisheries, railways, health, ports infrastructure, education and vocational training.
"Our bilateral development cooperation has entered an important stage with the agreement on small development projects, which would act as a platform for exchange of technical expertise at the grassroots level," Kalam said.
Noting that the bilateral Free Trade Agreement had helped both the countries, he expressed confidence that Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement would be finalised soon to engineer further growth in trade and investment for mutual benefit.
The scientist-President of India said the two neighboursshared "immutable and inalienable geographical links", which come alive even in the satellite pictures taken from outer space.
"Gandhiji once described your beautiful island as a 'resplendent pendant'," Kalam recalled to Rajapakse. He added that Jawaharlal Nehru also was enchanted by Lanka's beauty.