HR: Tweet, https://www.nbr.org/publication/reorienting-indias-foreign-policy-neighborhood-first/,
https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2019/06/06/modi-foreign-policy-lay-stress-sagar-doctrine-and-act-east.html
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2170621/what-rajapaksas-return-means-china-india-tug-war-over-sri-lanka
This tweet was sent out after the Prime Minister of India spoke during the President of Sri Lanka’s visit to India. The tweet references the speech made by the Prime Minister of India addressing Sri Lanka. The President made this state visit to India because he had recently been elected as President of Sri Lanka. The “Neighborhood First” policy is a foreign policy objective by India to increase relations between itself and the surrounding south Asian countries. Basically, India is trying to increase cooperation in the area by offering assistance to countries that need it in order to build up their infrastructure. Historically, India had been promising countries things they had not delivered on, and this policy is trying to decrease that. This project falls under the SAGAR doctrine that is mentioned in the speech, SAGAR stands for Security and Growth for All the Region, which is the foreign policy objectives of India, as mentioned above, to increase cooperation within the region. I think a large part of the reason that the President visited India was because he ran on a anti-China platform, and one of India’s goal with the SAGAR doctrine is ultimately to unite south Asia against China, so it makes sense that the President would go to show his support. Based on the fact that the President of Sri Lanka referenced the promise that the PM of India made to contribute to a strong Sri Lanka, it shows that the President supports the PM and is also hoping that he will follow through with his word to build up Sri Lanka.
“A stable, secure and prosperous Sri Lanka is not only in India's interest but also in the interest of the entire Indian Ocean Region” – stated HE @narendramodi during the press conference today – the translation of speech can be accessed : https://t.co/jqTbxmqDrz
— Gotabaya Rajapaksa (@GotabayaR) November 29, 2019