Having succeeded Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena recently, Prof. G.L. Peiris has met top envoys of several major countries over the past few days. On Tuesday (24), Prof. Peiris met South Korean Ambassador Santhush Woonjin Jeong and Kuwaiti Ambassador Khalaf Bu Dhhair to discuss a range of bilateral matters. Foreign Secretary Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage and senior officials of the Ministry participated in the meetings.

 The Foreign Ministry said the discussions with Ambassador Jeong centered on a wide range of areas of existing and potential cooperation including education, science, information technology, digitalisation, pharmaceutical production, labor migration, people-to-people exchanges and partnership in multilateral engagements. A particular emphasis was placed on the importance of development of Korean language education in Sri Lanka, enabling direct and effective exchanges between citizens, businesses and institutions between the two countries.

During the meeting, Foreign Minister Peiris reiterated the significance of Sri Lanka-Korea bilateral relations which continue to be mutually beneficial with potential for further expansion and expressed appreciation for Ambassador Woonjin’s sentiments towards Sri Lanka and its people.

They agreed to explore further avenues for expanding trade and economic relations between the two countries which can be diversified into new development projects and investments.

The following is the text of statement on the Foreign Minister’s meet with Ambassador Khalaf Bu Dhhair: In his opening remarks, Ambassador Dhhair extended greetings from the Foreign Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and expressed the Government of Kuwait’s willingness to enhance bilateral trade and economic relations with the Government of Sri Lanka. Furthermore, Ambassador Dhhair said that the Government of Kuwait was looking forward to employing skilled workers from Sri Lanka in the health and energy sectors.

Responding to the remarks made by the Ambassador Dhhair, Foreign Minister Peiris expressed that the Government of Sri Lanka and the State of Kuwait enjoy extremely cordial relations and during his tenure, was looking forward to strengthening Sri Lanka’s relations with the Gulf countries. Minister Peiris also conveyed the Sri Lankan Government’s appreciation to the Emir of Kuwait for the donation granted by the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society for the Covid– 19 emergency health sector requirements. The Minister Peiris also noted the valuable support extended by Kuwait to the Government to Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council and other multilateral forums.

Foreign Minister Peiris and Ambassador Dhhair discussed the possibilities of further expanding the Trade and Investment ties between both countries into new areas such as energy, hotel and tourism and urban housing projects through a partnership between public and private sector institutions. They also noted that there were new areas of bilateral cooperation that are yet to be explored such as Tourism, Health and Energy sectors which would be mutually beneficial in strengthening the already existing cordial relations between the two countries.”