Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Prof. Gamini Lakshman Peiris on Friday called on President Asif Ali Zardari at Aiwan-e-Sadr.
He was accompanied by Air Chief Marshal (R) Jayalath Weerakkody,
High Commissioner and Mr. M. H. M. N. Bandar, Deputy Head of Mission.
Pak side included Mr. M. Salman Faruqui, Secretary General to the
President, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, MOS for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Salman
Bashir, Foreign Secretary, Mr. Salim H. Mandviwala, Chairman BOI, and
other senior officials besides Spokesperson to the President Mr.
Farhatullah Babar.
Pak-Sri Lankan bilateral relations, mutual cooperation with special
reference to that of trade and other related matters were discussed
during the meeting. Progress on proposed currency swap agreement for
promoting and facilitating mutual trade also came under discussion.
It may be recalled the President during his visit to Sri Lanka had
offered assistance to Sri Lanka in cement, sugar and dairy industry and
had called for exploring new and unconventional phase of economic
cooperation of the two countries. The currency swap agreement was thus
proposed to reduce pressure on foreign exchange reserves of the two
countries.
The President said that Pakistan values its relations with Sri
Lanka which are based on mutual respect, shared civilizational heritage
and shared perceptions on host of issues. He said that there was a need
to translate this equation into economic terms and take advantage of
each other economic expertise and opportunities. He said that by
increasing the synergies of our economies and reinforcing institutional
framework for economic cooperation, the mutual trade volume can be
significantly increased by the two countries.
Prof G. L. Peiris thanked the President for meeting and hoped that
the mutual cooperation and bilateral relations would be further
strengthened with each passing day.SANA
