Colombo, Dec 18 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lanka and Malaysia, on Monday agreed to expand ties in several areas including trade and investment, agriculture and to curb the smuggling of drugs and human trafficking.
Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak who is presently on an official visit in the island country, met Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in Colombo during which both held in depth discussions.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and a number of Malaysian and Sri Lankan ministers were also present.
The President’s Office in a statement said that during the talks, President Sirisena thanked Malaysia for the continuous support extended to Sri Lanka at the UNHRC and other international forums.
Prime Minister Najib said that his country does not agree with the Western interpretation of human rights that the West is trying to impose on other countries. President Sirisena too expressed agreement to this view expressed by the Malaysian leader.
Prime Minister Najib said bilateral trade between the two countries had steadily grown in the last few years and during the first 10 months of this year, bilateral trade had reached US$680 million.
“However the trade is heavilybalanced in Malaysia’s favour. Hence, Malaysia would explore every possibility to ensure increase of Sri Lankan exports to Malaysia,” the Malaysian Prime Minister assured.
The Prime Minister further said the proposed Free Trade Agreement will be useful to further expand trade and said his ministers would take steps to speed up talks on FTA.
The visit of Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak follows the Official Visit of President Maithripala Sirisena to Malaysia in December 2016.