(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide assured Norway’s full support to Sri Lanka’s peace and reconciliation programme when she met Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Olso on Thursday evening.
The meeting took place at the State Guests’ official residence. Observing that Sri Lanka is heading towards success in its difficult task of establishing peace and stability, she said that Sri Lanka’s case is a good example to the world.
The plans and strategies to strengthen bilateral economic and political relations had been discussed at the meeting.
The Norwegian Government had also agreed to provide the technical assistance to build the proposed Police and Criminal Justice University in Sri Lanka.
Joint steps that can be taken to utilise new technology for the development of fisheries industry and resources had been discussed. Sri Lanka’s efforts to push for an international arrangement to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean had been detailed at the meeting.
The ideas had been exchanged on the need for cooperation and consensus among the littoral states and organizations.
In the meantime, the Norway Government has also agreed to share its experience, new knowledge and technical assistance to Sri Lanka to boost its economy through the ‘Blue Economy’ concept.
This was stated by Norwegian International Development Minister Nikolai Astrup during a dinner he hosted for the Sri Lankan delegation led by the Prime Minister on Thursday. The need to give special focus on ‘ocean economy’ was highlighted and mutual attention was drawn to measures to control marine pollution to protect ocean resources.
Prof.Maithree Wickremesinghe, MPs Kavinda Jayawardena and Hesha Vithanage, Secretary to the Prime Minister Saman Ekanayake and Sri Lankan Ambassador to Norway Prof Arusha Cooray also participated.
