Sushma Swaraj to visit SL on Friday

The Minister of External Affairs of India, Sushma Swaraj will undertake an official visit to Sri Lanka from February 5-6 for the Ninth Session of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission, co-chaired by Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera and the Minister Swaraj will be held on February 5 in Colombo.

The India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission was established in 1992 as an effective mechanism to address matters pertaining to bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The discussions will include areas such as economic cooperation, trade, power and energy, technical and maritime cooperation, social, cultural and educational matters, science and technology, defence cooperation, health, civil aviation, tourism, and people-to-people contact, the statement said.

The Eighth Session of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission was held in New Delhi on 22 January 2013.

Minister Swaraj is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka on Friday afternoon and depart on Saturday evening. During her visit, Minister Swaraj will also call on President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga.