On 26 March 2009, Mr. Rohitha Bogollagama, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, on the occasion of his official visit to Thailand, paid a courtesy call on Mr. Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the Foreign Ministry.
Mr. Bogollama congratulated Mr. Kasit on his assumption of office and for the success of democratic development in Thailand. The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister addressed the improvement of domestic situation in Sri Lanka and discussed about bilateral and regional intelligence cooperation to counter terrorism, especially the surveillance of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) movement.
Foreign Minister Kasit congratulated the Sri Lankan Government for its success in restoring peace in the country and reaffirmed the Royal Thai Government’s position in seriously combating the illegal arms trade and terrorism. In this connection, Mr. Kasit also reiterated his support for the intelligence cooperation and coordination between the concerned agencies of both sides and for the regional cooperation to promote the lasting peace in the region.
In addition, both sides discussed and sought further cooperation on various bilateral and multilateral issues. On expanding trade and investment between the two countries, Sri Lanka wishes to attract more investors from Thailand who can utilize Sri Lanka’s GSP quota to the European Union market and to invest in construction project of over 30,000 housing units. Both sides also agreed to reactivate the Thailand-Sri Lanka Joint Commission. On multilateral cooperation, both sides discussed extensively on cooperation under the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), which Sri Lanka will host the 8th Ministerial Meeting later this year. In addition, various issues were also discussed under the BIMSTEC framework especially in facilitating movement of people and goods in the Bay of Bengal to boost tourism and trade within the region and enhancing cooperation in disaster management. On this occasion, Mr. Bogollama expressed Sri Lankan wish to become the ASEAN’s Dialogue Partner and sought Thailand’s support for its bid to be site of ESCAP’s sub-regional office.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th