ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday called for enhanced parliamentary exchanges and people-to-people contacts between Pakistan and Sri Lanka to take the existing cordial friendly ties between the two countries to new heights.
The Prime Minister stated this in a meeting with Chamal Jayantha Rajapaksa, Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, who alongwith a parliamentary delegation called on him at the PM House here on Tuesday afternoon.
The Prime Minister said that Pakistan greatly values its relations with Sri Lanka which are based on mutual and shared interests in maintaining regional peace, security and stability. He added that Pakistan fully supports the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka.
The Prime Minister congratulated the government and people of Sri Lanka in eliminating terrorism from their country and also asked the Speaker to convey his profound felicitations to the Sri Lankan President on his re-election for the second term. He also asked the Speaker to convey his invitation to President Mahinda Rajapaksa to undertake his long awaited official visit to Pakistan at his earliest convenience in 2011.
The Prime Minister, while expressing his satisfaction on the overall status of bilateral relations, hoped that the next round of consultations for expansion of the ambit of Free Trade Agreement between the two countries to make it a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) will be scheduled soon to open new vistas of enhanced trade, investment and economic ties between the two sides.
Noting that Sri Lanka was the major beneficiary of the training offered by Pakistan for its defence personnel, the Prime Minister called for expansion in defence cooperation and offered sale of defence equipment to meet the Sri Lankan needs. He also underlined the need of cultural cooperation, particularly through religious visits from Sri Lanka to the historical Budhist sites of Pakistan.
The Speaker of Sri Lankan Parliament, while conveying the best wishes of his younger brother and President of Sri Lanka to the Prime Minister, thanked the later for the warm hospitality extended to him and his delegation during their visit and agreed to the proposal of strengthening the parliamentary exchanges and people-to-people contacts to bring the two countries ever closer.
He also underscored the importance of expansion in trade and economic ties and informed the Prime Minister that a Sri Lankan technical team would soon visit Pakistan for negotiating the expansion of FTA to CEPA.
Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Zaheeruddin Babar Awan, Senate Chairman Farooq H. Naek, Secretary Senate and other senior officers were also present in the meeting.
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