Maldives foreign minister meets Sri Lankan president, prime minister to boost bilateral ties

Colombo, Jun 6 (PTI) Maldives Foreign Affairs Minister Moosa Zameer called on Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and other senior leaders and discussed ways to bolster bilateral ties and people-to-people contact, media reports said on Thursday.

Zameer is the first Maldivian minister to visit Sri Lanka since the election of Mohamed Muizzu as President of the archipelagic nation in September last year.

Zameer, who is on a three-day visit to Colombo, met Wickremesinghe on Wednesday evening and called on Gunawardena on Thursday morning.

“It was an honour to call on the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka @DCRGunawardena today. We discussed our longstanding bonds of friendship and cooperation and ways to further enhance our ties and people-to-people contact,” he posted on X after the meeting.

The #Maldives and #SriLanka share a historic and close relationship, which we are strongly committed to strengthening even further. I thanked the Prime Minister for the continued support for the socio-economic development of the Maldives,” he added further.

After he met President Wickremesinghe, Zameer posted on X, “Honoured to call on the President of #SriLanka, @RW_UNP. I expressed our appreciation for the continuous support and cooperation extended by Sri Lanka for the socio-economic development of #Maldives. I reaffirmed our commitment to deepen our bilateral ties through mutually beneficial collaborations.” Zameer also met Namal Rajapaksa, a Member of Parliament from Hambantota, who he termed as a “long-time friend of Maldives” and said in a post on X, “We reflected on our time tested and historic ties of friendship. Confident that the close relationship between #Maldives and #SriLanka will progress further in the years ahead.” Rajapaksa responded with a post on X: “I was very pleased to meet Minister Zameer during his visit to Sri Lanka. We discussed further strengthening the long-standing relationship between the two countries. The hope is that the two countries will further strengthen their relations in various fields.” Earlier on Wednesday, Lanka's State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya said in a statement, “Bilateral talks concluded successfully with a shared resolve to collaborate towards mutually beneficial objectives reaffirming positive diplomatic relations.” Zameer also met Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, who requested his Maldivian counterpart to lift the outward remittance restrictions placed on the Lankan expatriate workers in the Maldives, where a large number of Sri Lankans are employed.

Maldivian news portal Edition.mv reported on Thursday that two ministers discussed mutual support in monitoring each country's Exclusive Economic Zone as both countries are heavily dependent on the fisheries industry.

“Additionally, the two Ministers discussed continued collaboration in defence and security areas, with additional training opportunities to be facilitated for related institutions of both countries,” the portal said, adding, “Both Ministers agreed that more robust steps need to be taken to protect from climate change and its effects.” The two countries also spoke of bringing an end to terrorism and extremism, illegal drugs, and human trafficking, with an increased focus on protecting human rights, it added. PTI NPK NPK NPK