First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dačić concluded a two day official visit to Sri Lanka today.

During the visit, Minister Dačić had meetings with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Speaker of the Parliament Karu Jayasuriya, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tilak Marapana, and the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva.

Discussions with Minister Marapana included a range of bilateral and global issues. The two ministers agreed to convene the second round of bilateral foreign office consultations as early as possible with a view to exploring the way forward, in a structured manner, on opportunities for investment, particularly in the agriculture, food processing and construction sectors in Sri Lanka; increasing cooperation in education, sports, transport and tourism sectors; and easing the visa regime between Serbia and Sri Lanka.

Particularly with a view to increasing two-way tourism, an Air Services Agreement between Sri Lanka and Serbia was signed today, with the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva signing on behalf of Sri Lanka and Minister Ivica Dačić signing on behalf of Serbia.

Sri Lanka and Serbia enjoy a close and historic relationship, and it is envisaged that cooperation in future will be focused on further strengthening people-to-people ties, enhancing business ties as well as greater partnership at inter-governmental level.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
Colombo

8 May 2018