Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake rolled out the red carpet for Modi and conferred on him the country’s highest civilian honour for “the deep personal friendship” shown to the smaller neighbour.
“Our security is interdependent and interconnected.”
Dissanayake applauded what he called “India‘s rise as a world power, not just a regional power”.
India has previously objected to Chinese submarines and research vessels which have called at the main seaport in Colombo.
Last year, Colombo imposed a ban on foreign research vessels following New Delhi's accusations that Chinese ships were being used to spy on India.
Balancing China
The solar plant, located in the island's northeastern Trincomalee district, had been stalled for years but was reinvigorated with New Delhi's backing.
India has become concerned about China's influence in Sri Lanka, which it sees as falling within its sphere of interest.
China has emerged as Sri Lanka's largest single bilateral creditor, accounting for more than half of its $14 billion bilateral debt at the time the island defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2022.
In January, Colombo announced it had signed an agreement with a Chinese state-owned company to invest $3.7 billion in an oil refinery in the island's south.
Modi's visit to Sri Lanka followed a summit in Thailand and a string of meetings with leaders of neighbouring nations as he sought to shore up India's regional ties.
He also held talks on Friday with the interim leader of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus -- the first such meeting since a revolution in Dhaka ousted New Delhi's long-time ally Sheikh Hasina and sent relations into a tailspin.
Modi also met on Friday in Bangkok with his Nepali counterpart, KP Sharma Oli -- their first meeting since Oli returned to power last year -- as well as Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan.
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