Sri Lankan President Receives UAE's Foreign Trade Minister

President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Percy Rajapaksa expressed his country's interest in furthering cooperation and friendship with the UAE in various spheres in service of the interests of the peoples of the two countries. Relations between Sri Lanka and the UAE have recently made significant progress and are set to achieve more progress and growth based on the sincere interest of the leaderships of the two countries, the Sri Lankan President remarked as he received Minister of Foreign Trade of the UAE Sheikha Lubna Al-Qassimi who is leading a delegation on a visit to Sri Lanka.

President Rajapaksa also noted that the success of the UAE-Sri Lanka Business Forum, which concluded last Thursday in Colombo, will reflect positively on the interests of both countries. He pledged all facilities to UAE investments in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan President further expressed appreciation of the UAE's support to his people when Sri Lanka was hit by Tsunami. For her part, Sheikha Lubna stressed that the UAE looks forward to stronger economic, trade and investment relations with Sri Lanka.

During her meeting with the Sri Lankan President, the UAE minister gave a presentation on the outcome of the recent forum. In attendance at the meeting were Sri Lanka's Minister of External Affairs Gamini Lakshman Peiris and Ambassador to UAE Sarath Wijesinghe. Later, Sheikha Lubna met with Sri Lankan Minister of External Affairs Gamini Lakshman Peiris to discuss bilateral relations including trade and investment.

Peiris noted that 300 Sri Lankan nationals work and live in the UAE. He also expressed his country's interest in expanding relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council member countries underlining the forthcoming Asian summit scheduled in Kuwait next year. Sheikha Lubna also met with Sri Lankan Minister of International Monetary Co-operation Senior Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama and Deputy Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera. Later, Sheikha Lubna and the delegation visited one of Sri Lanka's largest tea processing factories near Colombo.