The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, jointly with the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Sri Lanka concurrently, organized a Forum on Central Asia, El.kz cites MFA.
The event was initiated in light of Sri Lanka’s intention to reconsider its relations with the Central Asian countries in the direction of more actively deepening trade and economic cooperation with them.
The Forum participants, including the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka Aruni Wijewardane, during two sessions of the Forum identified various aspects that hinder the expansion of mutually beneficial ties between the Central Asian and South Asian regions and discussed ways to further overcome them. In particular, in his speech, Counselor of the Kazakh Embassy Darkhan Seitenov, noting the lack of practical and stable supply chains between regions and countries, said that the “North-South” International Transport Corridor, especially the Iranian port of Chabahar, is the most optimal and promising route. In this regard, they were asked to consider the possibility of establishing a Joint Working Group on Transport and Logistics with the participation of all interested parties.
The participants, welcoming the proposal of the Kazakh side, also agreed on the relevance of expanding the legal framework and creating additional mechanisms for the development of bilateral trade and economic relations.
As part of the event, the Kazakh diplomat held separate talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka M.U.M. Ali Sabry and his First Deputy Aruni Wijewardane, with whom he exchanged views on the state and potential for strengthening mutually beneficial Kazakh-Sri Lankan cooperation, including the prospects for opening diplomatic missions of the two countries in Astana and Colombo.
In general, the Forum, to which the former Ambassador of Kazakhstan to India and Sri Lanka, now CICA expert Doulat Kuanyshev, representative of the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan (online) were also invited, was the result of agreements reached at the Foreign Office Consultations of Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka in April of this year in Astana.