Sri Lanka not looking at February for Indian PM's visit

Sri Lanka said Friday that it was not expecting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit the country in February, to be the chief guest at the 6oth independence day celebrations.

'We are not looking at February or any other specific date for the Indian prime minister's visit. What we would like is a bilateral visit by the Indian prime minister in the course of 2008. No Indian prime minister has paid a bilateral visit to Sri Lanka in the last 20 years,' Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told the media here.

Asked if any other date had been fixed if Manmohan Singh was not likely to be in Colombo Feb 4, the country's independence day, the minister said it was for India to come up with dates.

According to diplomatic sources, the Sri Lankan government had invited Singh to be the chief guest at the Feb 4 independence day celebrations. But the Indian government had not taken a decision in the matter.

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