Sri Lanka – Pakistan move towards stronger ties; Signs three MoU’s

Mar 26, 2018 (LBO) - Sri Lanka and Pakistan have pledged to move forward to achieving economic prosperity while further strengthening the long standing bilateral relations between the two nations. President Maithripala Sirisena who is on an official visit to Pakistan met with Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain  and both leaders agreed on this. The Heads of States discussed in detail regarding the need of stand against world terrorism and the President appreciated the assistance given to Sri Lanka by Pakistan in fight against terrorism during the last war period.   Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain said that this tour of President to Pakistan will pave the way to further consolidate foreign, defence, trade and investment ties between the two countries. The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi pledged to move forward further strengthening the economic and trade relations between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Two leaders held a lengthy discussion on strengthening economic and trade relations as well as defence training programmes between the two countries. It was also discussed to achieve US 1 billion dollars target in economic cooperation between the two countries. During the meeting the Pakistan Prime Minister stated that the government of Pakistan is willing to provide their experiences in the fields of oil and natural gas to Sri Lanka at any time and the President said that Sri Lanka has paid special attention in this regard as we have to face energy issues in the future. Following this bilateral discussions, three MoUs were signed between the two countries. A MoU between Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute (BIDTI ) and the Foreign Service Academy of Pakistan was signed by the State Minister Wasantha Senanayake and the Pakistan Foreign Secretary. MoU between National School of Public Policy (NSPP) of the Government of Pakistan and Sri   Lankan Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA) of Sri Lanka was signed by the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Pakistan and the Dean of the Pakistan NSPP. A bilateral agreement was signed between the two countries to enhance youth development and the agreement was signed by the Secretary to the Pakistan Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination and the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Pakistan.