Foreign Secretary Rao to visit Lanka

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will undertake a three-day visit to Sri Lanka from Monday. She is expected to visit the north eastern provinces of Sri Lanka -- including Vayunia, Yazhpanam and Trincomalee -- to check the rehabilitation of the Tamil population, who were displaced by the military's offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Rao is also expected to prepare the ground work for the official visit of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to Colombo in October.

Her visit assumes significance in the wake of Krishna's recent assurance to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leaders -- that India will take up the issue of the resettlement of the ethnic Tamil population in Lanka with the country's authorities.

Incidentally, the European Union has imposed economic sanctions on Sri Lanka from August 15. Lanka has quietly approached China for assistance in trade to import textiles from the country. India is understandably wary of China entering the Lankan market.