Iran, Sri Lanka to strengthen ties

TEHRAN (FNA): Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asian and Oceanic Affairs Mohammad Ali Fathollahi and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa stressed the two countries’ resolve for the further expansion of mutual cooperation.     

During a meeting held in Colombo on Monday, the two sides called for the expansion of ties by exhausting all available means.

Fathollahi also handed a letter by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Sri Lankan President and held separate meetings with a number of other officials.

The Iranian diplomat met with Sri Lanka’s Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Economic Development, Justice, Trade and Industry, Parliament Speaker and Members of the Parliamentary Friendship Group.

The Iranian and Sri Lankan officials also called for the creation of the second political consultative committee and for the meeting of the tenth conference of joint economic commission in the near future.

In May, an official from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Petroleum Resources said that his country was in talks with Iran on funds for the expansion of the Sapugaskanda oil refinery.

“The Iranian Government has pledged to finance 70 per cent of the total costs of expanding the refinery and the balance will be taken care of by the Government of Sri Lanka,” Secretary to Sri Lanka’s Petroleum Resources Ministry Titus Jayawardana said.

The project will cost a total of US$ 1,500 million and the Government is now looking for the investors to bear the remaining 30 per cent of the cost, he said.