"What we did for Sri Lanka was bigger than what other countries did." S Jaishankar recalled how India played a pivotal role during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis.
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00:00The next time you want to take a holiday, go to Sri Lanka and ask them, what do you
00:06think about India?
00:07When the rest of the world turned its back on Sri Lanka, we actually committed four and
00:13a half billion dollars.
00:43My question is regarding the observed shift in the geopolitical alignment of our long-standing
01:00regional partners such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and recently Maldives towards China.
01:07Is it indicative of perceived failure for India's neighborhood first policy?
01:14My first advice to you would be, the next time you want to take a holiday, go to Sri
01:22Lanka.
01:23You know, I am serious.
01:26Please go to Sri Lanka, I say this to all of you, mix with the normal person in Sri
01:33Lanka and ask them, what do you think about India?
01:39And I can tell you, you will feel yourself grow with that answer.
01:46For the average Sri Lankan, when the world had turned its back on Sri Lanka, when they
01:53could not get, you know, I have myself been in Colombo and there was a petrol shortage.
02:03People were pushing their cars to the petrol bunk to get petrol and fuel up.
02:08And there were queues of kilometers doing this.
02:12The country was running out of food.
02:15It couldn't get essential commodities.
02:17Now, at a time when the rest of the world turned its back on Sri Lanka, the only country
02:25which came forward, and came forward not in a small way, we actually committed four
02:32and a half billion dollars to Sri Lanka.
02:37And just to give you a reference point, they negotiated for a long time with IMF, which
02:43by the way, should have been where the help should have come from, and that IMF package
02:49was less than three billion dollars.
02:52So, what we did immediately, quickly, efficiently, was 50% bigger than what the IMF did.
02:59And no other country came close.
03:02So, I think this idea that, you know, somewhere neighbors are turning against us, we are failing,
03:13we need to have more confidence in ourselves.
03:17Now, having said that, there are two realities, which we also must recognize.
03:25You know, China is also a neighboring country, and in many ways, will, as part of competitive
03:32politics, influence these countries.
03:36I don't think we should be scared of China.
03:38I think we should say, okay, global politics is a competitive game.
03:46You do your best, I will do my best.
03:48You are right, there is competition.
03:51You are wrong that it's a failure.
03:55I would say today as India, we should not be scared of competition, we should welcome
04:00competition and say, I have the ability to compete.