Press Releases

On January 5, during his visit to Sri Lanka, Mr. ENDO Kazuya, Director-General, International Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, held the Japan-Sri Lanka Economic Cooperation Policy Dialogue with Mr. K.M.M. Siriwardana, Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, to have a comprehensive exchange of views on bilateral economic cooperation as a follow-up to the Japan-Sri Lanka Summit Meeting held in May last year.

During the dialogue, DG Endo expressed his appreciation for Sri Lanka's reform efforts under the IMF program and his expectation that Sri Lanka will continue to promote necessary reforms, which Japan will support. He also reiterated the importance of the early completion of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the debt restructuring between the Official Creditor Committee and the Sri Lankan government, as well as the need to ensure transparency and comparability in agreements with creditors outside the Official Creditor Committee. In response, Secretary Siriwardana explained the implementation status of various reforms and debt restructuring, and expressed his gratitude for Japan's contribution to the discussions on debt restructuring.

The two sides also exchanged views on Japan’s future economic cooperation with Sri Lanka, including the existing yen loan projects, to stabilize and reinforce Sri Lanka’s economy as well as overcome its socioeconomic challenges. DG Endo stated that Japan will continue to provide support to the people of Sri Lanka so that the country can fully recover from the economic crisis as soon as possible and make steady development. Secretary Siriwardana expressed his gratitude for the support from Japan for this purpose.