Mangala holds talks with British Foreign Office Minister

Wednesday, 11 February 2015 00:29 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Mangala Samaraweera has met with British Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire in London Monday. After the meeting,

Swire said in a Twitter message that he had a good meeting with the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister building on the discussion the two ministers had when Swire visited Colombo recently. “Delighted to welcome #SriLanka Foreign Minister Samaraweera to UK. Good meeting building on our discussion in Colombo,” the UK Minister tweeted. The UK Minister paid a three-day visit to Sri Lanka from 28-30 January. During his visit Swire called on President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and other senior ministers including the Minister for Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Affairs D M Swaminathan, to discuss the new government’s reform programme and areas of potential co-operation. The British Minister visited the North and met the new civilian Governor of the Northern Province H M G S Palihakkara, local politicians and members of civil society in Colombo, as well as the Chief Minister Wigneswaran in Jaffna and seeing other parts of the Northern Province. Concluding the visit, the UK Minister said he is encouraged by the progress made to date in Sri Lanka although many challenges remain and expressed hope that the new Sri Lankan government would cooperate with the United Nations investigation on alleged war crimes during the three-decade long war. Following the UK visit, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister is scheduled to arrive in the United States later this week. Minister Samaraweera is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, February 12. Later in the day, he will discuss Sri Lanka - U.S. relations at a special briefing and reception at the National Press Club in Washington.