INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Ranil Wickremesinghe met with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of Nepal on Tuesday (Sept
19) in New York on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly.During the meeting, the Sri Lankan leader stated that the
island nation is keen on expanding its longstanding relationship with Nepal into a dynamic political, trade and business partnership by
Lanka-Nepal Joint Commission, scheduled to be held at the end of the year in Kathmandu this year, would be an important step.The Nepalese
prime minister stated that there is a close understanding and cooperation between the two countries and expressed confidence that this will
be further strengthened in the coming years
The people of Nepal and Sri Lanka have many commonalities, particularly in religion and culture, he added.Both sides looked forward to
enhancing connectivity between Sri Lanka and Nepal and explored avenues for interconnecting the tourism sectors of the two countries.The two
leaders have agreed that there is potential to increase economic cooperation between the two countries by increasing trade and investment as
well as enhancing people-to-people contact through the provision of education opportunities
Further strengthening cooperation in the multilateral fora was also discussed.Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, Mohan Pieris Permanent
Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York and senior officials from Sri Lanka and Nepal also attended the meeting.
