Special envoy from Korea visits Sri Lanka

Tuesday, 22 April 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Special envoy of the Government of the Republic of Korea, Yu Myung-hwan, is visiting Sri Lanka from 20-22 April to discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries. Yu, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Korea from 2008 to 2010, paid a courtesy call on President Mahinda Rajapaksa and held bilateral talks with Minister of External Affairs, G.L. Peiris on 21 April. During the meeting with the President, Yu commended him on his leadership in ending the war against terrorism as well as for his Government’s post war achievements such as rehabilitating 12,000 LTTE combatants, resettling 300,000 IDPs, and rebuilding the infrastructure. In particular, the special envoy recognised the political will of the Sri Lankan Government towards national reconciliation by holding the Northern Provincial Council election last year. Moreover, he also discussed with Minister Peiris on how to cooperate to implement the LLRC recommendations. So far, Korea has been contributing to the reconciliation of Sri Lanka through various development projects. At the request of the Sri Lankan Government, the Korean Government upgraded the Jaffna College of Technology in 2007, and it is now improving the school facilities and the quality of education in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. In addition, the Korean Government will build the Government Complex of the Northern Provincial Council. The bilateral relations between Korea and Sri Lanka have been strongly consolidated through the state visit of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Korea in 2012 and the subsequent official visit of Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won to Sri Lanka in 2013. Korea was the largest foreign investor to Sri Lanka in the 1990s, and around 60 Korean companies are now operating in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is the third largest ODA partner country of Korea with the assistance of 80 million USD annually. Every year, 5,000-6,000 Sri Lankan workers go to Korea for work, and currently 23,000 Sri Lankan people are working in Korea. With the commencement of direct flights between Seoul and Colombo last year, more than 12,000 Koreans visited Sri Lanka in 2013, which is 55% increase year-on-year.