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Key issues taken up at inaugural US-Lanka Annual Partnership Dialogue in Washington
The inaugural U.S.-Sri Lanka Annual Partnership Dialogue was concluded in Washington DC on Friday with discussions on key topics including economic cooperation, security cooperation, international and regional affairs and other issues of mutual interest.
Ahead of the partnership dialogue, Minister Samaraweera met with US Secretary of State John Kerry at the State Department
“The Partnership Dialogue is a regularly planned policy consultation designed to advance our common agenda and opportunities for cooperation across the full range of bilateral and regional issues,” a statement from the State Department said.
The United States looks forward to broadening and deepening its relationship with Sri Lanka on the basis of these candid and constructive conversations, it said.
The bilateral cooperation mechanism which elevates the relations between the two countries to the next level was first mooted during the US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Sri Lanka in May last year.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon led the respective delegations. Discussions focused on democratic governance, development cooperation, people-to-people ties, international and regional affairs and other issues of mutual interest.
Ahead of the partnership dialogue, Minister Samaraweera met with Secretary Kerry at the State Department. While appreciating the government’s very impressive continuing steps towards reconciliation, Secretary Kerry said efforts to try to address regional issues, and most importantly, to make peace in the country are very, very significant.
“We’ve had an ongoing dialogue. This is the eve of a Strategic Dialogue with Sri Lanka, we very much look forward to defining the roadmap ahead for continued progress,” he said. Minister Samaraweera said that the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue will further strengthen and broaden the relationship between the two countries.
“And this has elevated what has always been a very cordial relationship to what I would call a very special friendship between the United States of America and Sri Lanka,” he said. A day before the partnership dialogue, a discussion at the U.S. Institute of Peace, co-sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, hosted Minister Samaraweera where he gave a talk on the topic of “Advancing Reconciliation and Development in Sri Lanka”.
In her introductory remarks, Nisha Biswal, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs noted that through this Partnership Dialogue, “we are establishing a forum to engage and advance all aspects of our relationships in a comprehensive discussion that brings together the strategic and security components, the democratic governance and human rights agenda, as well as the economic challenges.”