Continuing his five-day tour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Colombo on Friday to kick start his two-day visit to the island nation. Modi was received by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe at the airport after he arrived in Colombo at 5:25 AM following an overnight journey from Port Louis in Mauritius in a special Air India plane.

Modi, who is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Lanka in 28 years, will hold summit talks with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, who was in India in February on his first foreign trip after assuming office in January. He will also hold talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Wickramasinghe.

The Prime Minister's visit to Lanka is considered to be an opportunity to further strengthen all aspects of the bilateral relationship.

"I see this visit as an opportunity to further strengthen our relationship in all its dimensions - political, strategic, economic, cultural, and above all, people to people contacts," Modi had said in his pre-departure statement.

Modi will also address the Sri Lankan Parliament during his visit.

He will be the first Indian Prime Minister and only the second foreign leader after British Premier David Cameron to visit Jaffna in the war-ravaged Northern province, where he will hand over homes built with the help of Indian assistance.

As many as 86 Indian fishermen arrested for allegedly poaching in Sri Lankan waters could be released as a goodwill gesture to mark Modi's visit.

Ahead of this visit, Sri Lankan Prime Minister had warned that his navy will continue fire at Indian Fishermen who enter their territory. He had said, "If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. Why are you coming into our waters? Why are you fishing in our waters? Stay on the Indian side. There will be no issue."

This is the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Sri Lanka after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.