Sri Lanka Foreign Minister meets with Russian ambassador, seeks to enhance relations

In order to enhance ties with Russia, the newly appointed Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry met with the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Sri Lanka, Yury Materiy, on Sunday.

Sabry expressed his deep appreciation for Russia's support towards Sri Lanka in bilateral and multilateral fora.

He also expressed confidence in further consolidation of cooperation, with particular attention to enhancing business ties, tourism and connectivity, Colombo Gazette reported.

Materiy congratulated the new Foreign Minister on his appointment, and handed over a message of felicitation from the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov— addressed to Sabry, Lavrov's counterpart.

The Deputy Head of Mission of the Russian Embassy in Colombo and senior officials of the Foreign Ministry were also present at the meeting.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin, while congratulating Wickremesinghe on his election as the head of the country, had said that the Russian-Sri Lankan relations were of a traditionally friendly nature, and Russia looked forward to developing constructive bilateral cooperation in various spheres for the benefit of the people, as well as in the interest of strengthening regional stability and security.

Amidst the crippling fuel shortage in the country, Gotabaya Rajapaksa— the former President of Sri Lanka— had sought credit support to import fuel to the island nation, in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two leaders had discussed matters of bilateral trade and economic cooperation between the two countries in several key sectors— especially energy, agriculture and transport— even as Colombo negotiated a support package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Following this, Rajapaksa had thanked Putin for all the support offered by his government to overcome the challenges of the past.

Notably, this year marks the 65th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Sri Lanka. The leaders confirmed their commitment to developing further friendly bilateral ties, in this regard, and agreed to continue contacts at various levels.

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