Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse left for Colombo from the Nedumbassery International Airport in Kochi Friday evening at the end of a four-day visit to India.
Rajapakse, who rounded off his first visit abroad after assuming office in November month by visiting the famous Sri Krishna temple at Guruvayoor in Thrissur district of Kerala, described his visit to India as "very satisfying and refreshing".
Accompanied by his wife Shiranthi, Rajapakse left Kochi by a Sri Lankan Airlines flight for Colombo at about 1815 hours.
He was seen off at the airport by several Kerala state ministers and District Collector A P M Mohammad Hanish.
"The Sri Lankan president's visit went off very smoothly. The dignitary described his visit as very satisying and refreshing," Hanish said.
Earlier, the Sri Lankan president arrived in Kochi from New Delhi in the afternoon by a special Indian Airlines flight and left for Guruvayoor in an Indian Air Force helicopter. He returned to Kochi in the evening after darshan at Guruvayoor.
During his four-day visit to India, Rajapakse met President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, Shipping and Tranport Minister T R Baalu and Left leaders Sitaram Yechuri, Prakash Karat and A B Bardhan.
The Sri Lankan president also had a breakfast meeting with Indian corporate leaders during the visit.
In a joint statement issued in New Delhi Friday at the end of his visit, both India and Sri Lanka reiterated that an enduring solution to the ethnic crisis in the island nation could emerge only through an internal political process that promoted consensus and reconciliation and stressed that terrorism could never be justified.
