Islamabad, Feb 23 (UNI) Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Sri Lanka on Tuesday on a two-day maiden visit to the country, at the invitation of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Accompanied by a high-level delegation, including members of the Cabinet and senior officials, will hold talks with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother and Prime Minister Rajapakse.
They will exchange views on key regional and international issues and also discuss how to further enhance bilateral cooperation in various sectors, the Dawn reported.
Mr Khan will also lead delegation-level talks, covering various areas of cooperation between the two countries, including trade, investment, health, education, agriculture, science and technology, apart from defence and culture tourism.
The visiting Prime Minister will also participate in a joint ‘Trade and Investment Conference,’ aimed at promoting trade and investment between the two countries, following which a number of agreements to enhance bilateral cooperation are expected to be signed between the two countries.
Earlier, the Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) had said that the reconstitution of the Sri Lanka-Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Association will also be announced to further promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries.
However, it did not mention Mr Khan’s speech to the Sri Lankan Parliament, which was cancelled by the Sri Lankan government, citingCOVID-19 pandemic as the official reason for the cancellation.
However, diplomatic sources and Sri Lankan media have said that it was done out of concerns that Mr Imran could speak about the situation in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which could further damage Colombo’s already troubled relations with New Delhi.
