Iran’s Raisi inaugurates Sri Lanka hydropower project, says West doesn’t have monopoly over technology, knowledge
- Ebrahim Raisi, the first Iranian leader to visit Sri Lanka since 2008, says the project marks his country’s ability to share knowledge with other nations
- Sri Lankans express gratitude for the visit and project, which will add 290GWh of electricity annually and irrigate land in the country’s dry zone
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made a one-day visit to Sri Lanka last week for the opening of a major Iranian-assisted hydropower and irrigation project, which both he and Sri Lankan media portrayed as a victory over the West.
“The Western countries tried to convince all others that knowledge and technology is exclusive to those countries,” Raisi said, addressing Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe and other top officials during the event on Wednesday.
He added that the “idea” was rooted in “colonialism and arrogance” and that Iran was now able to share its knowledge with others, currently having projects in 20 countries.
Raisi underscored that the project symbolised not only the friendship between Iran and Sri Lanka but also signified enhanced cooperation, integration, harmony and unity among Asian nations.
Sri Lanka’s relations with Iran go back to the fifth century, where both civilisations had sophisticated irrigation systems.
Raisi is the first Iranian leader to visit Sri Lanka since former president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s trip in 2008.
Right up to his arrival in Sri Lanka, there were doubts whether the Iranian president would visit the country. Western embassies, and the United States in particular, had put tremendous pressure on the Sri Lankan government to cancel the visit.
