Minister of Foreign Affairs Lakshman Kadirgamar of Sri Lanka's Courtesy Call on Prime Minister
Yoshiro Mori and Meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Yohei Kono
(Summary and Evaluation)
23 October 2000
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lakshman Kadirgamar of Sri Lanka visited Japan from 21-25 October 2000. On 23 October, Foreign Minister Kadirgamar paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori (from 17:50-18:05), and held a meeting with and attended a dinner hosted by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yohei Kono (from 18:31-21:05). The following is a summary and evaluation of the above.
1. Courtesy Call on Prime Minister Mori
(1) Introduction
Foreign Minister Kadirgamar began by expressing his appreciation for Japan's dispatch of Special Envoy Yasuo Fukuda to the State Funeral of late Prime Minister Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike, to which Prime Minister Mori responded by reiterating his words of condolence.
(2) Invitation for Prime Minister Mori to visit Sri Lanka
Foreign Minister Kadirgamar expressed the wish of President Chandrika Kumaratunga to invite Prime Minister Mori to visit Sri Lanka, and commented that he was looking forward to a visit by the Japan-Sri Lanka Parliamentarians' League to Sri Lanka.
(3) IT cooperation
Foreign Minister Kadirgamar noted that Sri Lanka was channeling its energies into IT, and requested cooperation with Japan in this area in the future. Prime Minister Mori stated that he himself indeed placed great importance on IT, and that Japan would cooperate with Sri Lanka in this regard.
(4) Ethnic issues
Prime Minister Mori pointed out that Japan was concerned about the ethnic issues facing Sri Lanka, and expressed hope for a peaceful resolution of these issues. Foreign Minister Kadirgamar expressed his appreciation for the support of the Government of Japan toward the Government of Sri Lanka's efforts for peace and responded that Sri Lanka would continue to work for a peaceful resolution to the issues.
2. Meeting with Foreign Minister Kono, Attendance at Dinner Hosted by Foreign Minister Kono
(1) Introduction
At the outset, Foreign Minister Kono expressed words of condolence at the passing of late Prime Minister Bandaranaike, for which Foreign Minister Kadirgamar expressed his gratitude.
(2) Bilateral relations
Foreign Minister Kadirgamar expressed his appreciation for Japan's economic cooperation to Sri Lanka to date. Foreign Minister Kono stated his wish to further deepen the bilateral cooperative relationship by inviting young persons from Southwest Asia to Japan, making use of the Mori Fellowship, and seizing the opportunity presented by the year 2002, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Japan-Sri Lanka diplomatic relations.
Foreign Minister Kadirgamar conveyed his enthusiasm toward strengthening economic relations with Japan, particularly looking forward to the development of cooperation in the area of IT. In response, Foreign Minister Kono, while providing an outline of Japan's Comprehensive Co-operation Package to Address the International Digital Divide announced at the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit, held the view that cooperation with Sri Lanka, which itself has advanced areas of IT, would be highly significant.
Furthermore, Foreign Minister Kadirgamar announced that he wished to invite Prime Minister Mori and Foreign Minister Kono to Sri Lanka.
(3) The domestic situation in Sri Lanka
Foreign Minister Kadirgamar provided a detailed briefing on the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commenting that the Government of Sri Lanka was pursuing a peaceful resolution through dialogue, and that it highly commended Japan's position to support this objective.
(4) International situation
Foreign Minister Kono briefed his counterpart on the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the recent Third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM III). Having briefed Foreign Minister Kono on the activities of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Foreign Minister Kadirgamar expressed his gratitude for Japan's cooperation in this context through the Japan-SAARC Fund. Foreign Minister Kono responded by stating that Japan would continue to advance cooperation toward SAARC.
3. Evaluation
(1) This visit, the first by a Sri Lankan Foreign Minister to Japan for six years, resulted in the first foreign ministerial level talks between Japan and a Southwest Asian nation since Prime Minister's Mori visit to Southwest Asia in August, during which, due to time constraints, Prime Minister Mori was unable to visit Sri Lanka. The talks, along with Foreign Minister Kadirgamar's courtesy call on Prime Minister Mori, provided an opportunity to convey to Sri Lanka that Japan continued to place importance on maintaining and strengthening its friendly and cooperative relations with Sri Lanka. This stance was highly commended by the Sri Lankan side.
(2) Although the visit to Japan came soon after the general election and formation of the new Cabinet in Sri Lanka, it was significant, in the context of having charted a course for strengthening future Japan-Sri Lanka relations, that Japan and the newly inaugurated Government of Sri Lanka reaffirmed that they would endeavor to further promote bilateral relations toward the year 2002, which will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Japan-Sri Lanka diplomatic relations.
(3) Japan contributed to the peaceful resolution of ethnic issues in Sri Lanka by strongly recommending that Sri Lanka make efforts to resolve the issues peacefully through dialogue, and by receiving affirmation from Sri Lanka that it would endeavor to do so.
(4) Japan realized this visit by the Foreign Minister of the current SAARC Chair and stated that it would maintain and strengthen its support for SAARC amidst freezing of SAARC activities at the summit level owing to tension between Pakistan and India. In so doing, Japan drew clear attention to its position to pursue stability and prosperity in the Southwest Asian region through steadily contributing to SAARC activities.
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