Countries & Regions

From Wednesday, May 1, to Thursday, May 2, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister of State for Special Missions, Mr. Taro Aso visited Sri Lanka. During the visit, Deputy Prime Minister Aso held meetings with His Excellency Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka (who also serves as Minister of Finance and Planning, Minister of Defence and Urban Development, and Minister of Ports and Highways) and other Sri Lankan Government dignitaries. The overview of the meetings is as follows:

 

 

 

Deputy Prime Minister Aso encouraged the Sri Lankan Government’s initiatives toward national reconciliation, including those related to human rights issues, announced by President Rajapaksa during the summit meeting in March. In response, President Rajapaksa reiterated his intention of holding the election for the Provincial Council of the Northern Province as scheduled in September. 

 

 

(1) President Rajapaksa expressed his gratitude for the support given by Japan over many years, including economic cooperation. 

(2) Deputy Prime Minister Aso expressed Japan’s support for the development of Sri Lanka, through the dispatch of a JETRO investment mission and cooperation in the field of energy by NEDO, with a view to enhancing economic relations with Sri Lanka as it continued to sustain high economic growth since the end of the conflict in 2009. President Rajapaksa expressed his expectations for the Japanese investment. 

(3) Deputy Prime Minister Aso proposed the training of Sri Lankan coast guard and shared the importance of stability in the Indian Ocean, noting that Sri Lanka was a geopolitically important maritime country located on the Indian Ocean Sea Lanes. 

 

 

On the morning of May 2, Deputy Prime Minister Aso visited Sri Lanka’s largest commercial port, the Colombo harbor (maintained and expanded through the provision of approximately 80 billion yen in yen loans from Japan since 1980). Deputy Prime Minister Aso had discussion with people at the Sri Lanka Port Authority officials, and observed a Japanese joint venture firm (Colombo Dockyard PLC) that was constructing and repairing ships.

 

 

At midday on May 2, Deputy Prime Minister Aso attended a luncheon hosted by the Honorable Mr. Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Development. Officials from the Sri Lankan Government also attended the lunch, including the Honorable Susil Premajayantha, Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy (Chairman of the Sri Lanka-Japan Parliamentarians’ League) and the Honorable Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Plantation Industries (Special Envoy on Human Rights), and there was an exchange of opinions on Japanese economic cooperation projects, the development of the Sri Lankan fishing industry, and other matters.