Pathfinder Foundation, Asia Society Policy Institute to improve US-Sri Lanka bilateral relations

The Pathfinder Foundation has embarked on a new venture seeking to improve bilateral relations between the US, a major trading partner of Sri Lanka.

The intention of the Pathfinder Foundation is to study the status of the current relationship, which includes economic, political, strategic, human rights, people to people relations etc. and to come up with proposals how the relationship could be further improved to meet the growing expectations of the two countries and peoples.

In this endeavour, the Pathfinder Foundation is associated with Washington based Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), which focuses its attention on major policy challenges confronting the Asia-pacific in security, prosperity, sustainability and development common norms and values for the region.

The Pathfinder Foundation commenced a similar exercise in 2014, seeking to improve relations between the two countries in association with the Washington based Heritage Foundation. 

This time around, the two teams represented by former Government officials, diplomats, senior military personnel and academics are headed by Robert O. Blake Jr., former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Bernard Goonetilleke, Chairman of the Pathfinder Foundation, who was former Sri Lanka Ambassador to the US.