Abu Dhabi: The UAE-Sri Lanka Joint Ministerial Committee opened today (Saturday) a two-day meeting in Abu Dhabi aimed at exploring new avenues for joint cooperation in areas of economy, trade, investment, tourism, energy and oil and gas. The first meeting of the committee, which was co-chaired by Khaled Ganem Al Gaith, Assistant UAE Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs, and Faizer Mustafa, Deputy Sri Lankan Minister of Investment Promotion, lauded the depth of distinguished bilateral ties of friendship and cooperation and emphasised on the importance of implementing recommendations issued by the committee in order to boost bilateral relations.
Addressing the meeting, Al Gaith expressed the hope that meetings of the committee would open up new windows for further strengthening bilateral relations in consistence with aspirations of higher Emirati-Sri Lankan leaderships for realising mutual objectives and interests. For his part, the Sri Lankan minister hailed the UAE-Sri Lanka ties as “strong” and thanked the UAE for the warm welcome and hospitality.
Trade exchange between the two countries stood at $1.5 billion in 2012. UAE investment in Sri Lanka is estimated at $440 million. There are 47 weekly flights linking the two countries.
