26 January 2020 02:46 pm
A top US official on Friday said that the standard partnership with Sri Lanka will replicate both parties good fortune in strengthening shared values, together with at the important factor of therapeutic the injuries of Sri Lanka’s civil battle.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South And Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells after her recent visit to Asian countries including Sri Lanka, she said that “Now we have compelling shared pursuits that come with countering violent extremism, strengthening maritime safety, combating narcotics smuggling, selling funding and financial expansion as a part of a loose and open Indo-Pacific.”
She also told reporters;
“I used to be joined via Lisa Curtis, the deputy assistant to the President, from the NSC. And as you already know, Sri Lanka occupies some essential actual property within the Indo-Pacific area, and it’s a rustic of accelerating strategic significance within the Indian Ocean area. And we had productive conferences with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who used to be elected ultimate November, and his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, in addition to the international minister, representatives of the opposition, in addition to leaders of the Tamil Nationwide Alliance and civil society. And I might say the election itself used to be noteworthy. Sri Lanka is Asia’s oldest democracy. The election used to be contested, it used to be truthful, and it delivered a transparent mandate to President Rajapaksa.”
“In our assembly with the president, Lisa Curtis and I conveyed a letter from President Trump emphasizing the price that we position on persisted engagement with Sri Lanka that’s pursuing the trail of reform and reconciliation, and we actually welcomed the president’s observation that he desires to be president for all Sri Lankans.”