First session of political consultations between Sri Lanka and Turkey concludes in Colombo

The first session of political consultations between Sri Lanka and Turkey was convened on 10 May at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colombo. 

A new roadmap for enhanced cooperation in prioritised sectors between Sri Lanka and Turkey was identified at the first formal session of bilateral consultations. 

The head of delegation of Sri Lanka and Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha, welcoming the Turkish delegation to the consultations, reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s commitment to further advance the excellent bilateral engagement spanning seventy one years since 1948.  

Aryasinha also expressed Sri Lanka’s sincere appreciation for the support and solidarity extended to Sri Lanka by the Government and people of Turkey following the Easter Sunday attacks.  

The Head of the Turkish delegation and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Sedat Önal, commenting on the enduring bilateral ties, recalled Sri Lanka’s unique resilience in the face of adversity, and expressed confidence in the country’s ability to recover fully from the Easter Sunday setback.  Deputy Foreign Minister Önal reiterated Turkey’s ready support in this process. 

The consultations served to broadly review the ongoing and potential areas of cooperation between Sri Lanka and Turkey. In order to further consolidate this engagement, the bilateral legal framework will be formalised to generate mutually beneficial outcomes in the tourism, trade and investment, security, science and technology, culture and higher education sectors. 

Among the future activities identified, is a visit to Turkey by a delegation of Sri Lankan tour operators/travel agents followed by a visit to Sri Lanka by a high level and diverse Turkish business delegation to coincide with the bilateral Joint Economic Commission. 

The consultations also focused on the need for Turkey and Sri Lanka to pursue shared economic interests and address common challenges such as, terrorism, at regional and multilateral platforms. Both sides agreed to actively follow-up on the deliverables and review progress at the second session of political consultations earmarked for early 2020.

The visiting Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal called on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tilak Marapana on 10 May.  

Associated with the bilateral consultations were Additional Secretary Sumith Nakandala and Directors General of Europe, Economic Affairs and Counter-Terrorism of the Foreign Ministry.