The unilateral scrapping of the East Coast Terminal (ECT) project at the Colombo port is the latest example of how far trust levels between India and Sri Lanka have plummeted in recent years. India, Sri Lanka and Japan had signed a tripartite agreement back in 2019 to develop the terminal.
Both India and Japan got a rude shock when the Sri Lankans suddenly announced that the project would be scrapped and they’re still looking for ways to salvage it. Instead of going ahead with the ECT project, Sri Lanka’s cabinet has cleared a plan to develop with India and Japan the West Container Terminal (WCT) as a public-private partnership. This move is seen as a bid to mollify and compensate India but it’s not clear yet whether our government will accept the proposal.
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