NEW DELHI: Ahead of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s maiden foreign trip to India from September 14-16 since becoming the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka last January and upon his reelection last month, Delhi in a show of support has extended $1.1 billion to the central bank of the island nation under the currency swap pact between the two neighbours.The support was extended by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) recently, officials said. RBI and CBSL had signed special currency swap agreement this July. Last April, CBSL received $400 million following Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s trip in March to Colombo, which was the first stand-alone bilateral trip to the island nation in over two decades.Lanka required the support to stabilize the exchange rate of its currency. The CBSL now expects — following increase in official reserves — that the currency’s exchange rate would stabilise in tune with macro-economic fundamentals and currencies of Colombo’s major trading partners.The CBSL will allow the market to decide the exchange rate by not guiding with a specific rate, officials from Colombo said, adding the Lankan central bank will intervene if the levels are too high.The support to CBSL is part of a series of steps that the Modi government has taken to boost political and economic ties with Colombo, including new Line of Credit since Mahinda Rajapaksa was ousted in presidential polls last January much to Delhi’s comfort. Current President Maithiripala Sirisena has assured to safeguard India’s strategic interests in the region after the Rajapaksa government had twice allowed Chinese submarines to dock at Colombo last year.The Chinese funded projects in Lanka had come under scanner during the past eight months, including the Colombo Port City Project (that was also detrimental to Delhi’s strategic interests in the region) as the government in Colombo has decided not to give preferential treatment to Beijing unlike the Rajapaksa regime.Wickremesinghe will be in Delhi on a working visit from September 14 to 16, close on the heels of former President Chandrika Kumarantunga ’s trip here.New Delhi must impress on the Sri Lankan prime minister that its interests in the island nation centre on democracy and fairness — that Colombo needs to carry forward its promise of deepening democracy, strengthening institutions and enfranchising its Tamil population. India can assure Prime Minister Wickremesinghe that it will provide economic assistance and support that it requires. All it asks in return is fairness in its dealing with India and its own citizenry.