A land link between India and Sri Lanka is in the offing.

India and Sri Lanka agreed Friday to consider building a land link between them, they said during President Ranil Wickremesinghe's first visit to the regional powerhouse, as Chinese influence grows on his island. Establishing "land connectivity" across the Palk Strait, which in places is only around 25 kilometres (15 miles) wide, would give India access to the key ports of Trincomalee and Colombo and strengthen a "millennia-old relationship", the neighbours said in a strategic document.