Sri Lanka and Nepal to forge a closer relationship in political, trade, and business partnerships.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, during a meeting with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of Nepal in New York on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly yesterday, said that Sri Lanka is keen to expand its longstanding relationship with Nepal into a dynamic political, trade, and business partnership by diversifying the areas of cooperation.

He stated that the inaugural session of the Sri Lanka-Nepal Joint Commission is scheduled to be held at the end of the year in Kathmandu. This year would be an important step. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal stated that there is a close understanding and cooperation between the two countries and expressed confidence that this would be further strengthened in the coming years.

The people of Nepal and Sri Lanka have many commonalities, particularly in religion and culture. Both sides looked forward to enhancing connectivity between Sri Lanka and Nepal and explored avenues for interconnecting the tourism sectors of the two countries. They both agreed that there is potential to increase economic cooperation between the two countries by increasing trade and investment as well as enhancing people-to-people contact through the provision of education opportunities. Further strengthening cooperation in the multilateral forum was also discussed.