Sri Lanka, India Joint Working Group to meet on 2 January to discuss fishermen issue

A Joint Working Group (JWG) of India and Sri Lanka will hold a ministerial-level meeting on Monday, 2 January 2017 in Colombo, in order to find a permanent solution to the issue of fishermen.

“As per the schedule agreed at the 5 November meeting between India and Sri Lanka on the fishermen issue, the ministerial meeting is to be preceded by a Joint Working Group meeting at Secretary level,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

At the India and Sri Lanka Ministerial level talks held in November, the two countries agreed to set up a Joint Working Group on Fisheries to find a permanent solution to the dispute between the fishermen of the two south asian neighbors on fishing rights in the Palk Strait.

It was agreed for the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Fisheries to meet every three months and a meeting between the Ministers for Fisheries every six months.

The Spokesperson said JWG will meet in New Delhi on 31 December and the ministerial meeting will be held in Colombo on 2 January.

For the last several months, both India and Sri Lanka have been taking measures to put in place a mechanism soon to resolve the fishermen issue, The New Indian Express reported. The fishermen level talks held on 2 November in New Delhi between a delegation of Sri Lankan fishermen and their Indian counterparts over the nagging issue ended without a success as the Sri Lankan fisher leaders rejected a demand from their Indian counterparts for a three year phasing out period from Sri Lankan waters.

According to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O. Panneerselvam, Sri Lanka is currently holding 51 fishermen and 114 fishing boats in its custody.