• One on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, and MoU between the Maldivian Foreign Service Institute-B’naike Diplomatic Training Institute

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, currently on a State visit to the Maldives, held bilateral discussions with Maldivian President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu on Monday (28) at the Maldivian Presidential Office.

After the discussions, agreements were exchanged between both the parties. This included a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Foreign Service Institute of Maldives and the Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute, as well as an agreement on mutual legal assistance. The first agreement aims to provide mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, while the second is a MoU on diplomatic training and the exchange of related information and documents between the respective institutions.

Subsequently, President Dissanayake and Dr. Muizzu made statements to the media concerning this State visit.

President Dissanayake said: “The Maldives is a viable destination for employment for many Sri Lankans to contribute to the Maldivian economy and society. We acknowledge the contribution made by Maldivian expatriates in Sri Lanka to the Sri Lankan economy and society. Sri Lanka and the Maldives have a strong partnership in education cooperation. Sri Lankans have played a key role in supporting Maldivian students and professionals. We discussed ways and means to further collaborate in this sector. We also focused on trade and investment cooperation and investments in key sectors. Maldivian investors can always look at Sri Lanka as a trusted destination for their investments. The single-window system which is currently being worked out by Sri Lanka to support investors and the fiscal and non-fiscal incentive schemes in place, further encourage investors. State-of-the-art technology parks in Sri Lanka and product-specific industrial zones are investor friendly, which Maldivian investors could explore to invest. I invited Maldivian businesspersons to invest in Sri Lanka especially in the information technology and artificial intelligence, fisheries and agro processing, tourism and leisure, real estate and urban infrastructure sectors. We also exchanged views on collaboration in the tourism sector. We also discussed matters of enhancing aviation cooperation, especially in increasing air connectivity. We exchanged views on furthering cooperation in the fields of agriculture as well as youth empowerment and sports. We acknowledged the great potential in the fisheries and ocean sector. We discussed enhancing cooperation in innovative and sustainable fishing practices. We shared views on the provision of transit passage for Sri Lankan fishing vessels for smooth access to the Arabian Sea. We acknowledged the importance of collaborative efforts in countering the challenge of climate change and global warming. With a view to realising the target of generating 70% of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030, I proposed deepened cooperation in the renewable energy sector. We also exchanged views on cooperation in the fields of defence, security and counter-terrorism cooperation. There are remarkable similarities in our languages, with Sinhala and Divehi stemming from the same root. With a view to further enhancing people to people contacts, our discussions focused on furthering cooperation in the areas of culture and heritage. I also invited President Muizzu to visit Sri Lanka at a mutually convenient date.”

Sri Lanka and the Maldives also commemorate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations, this year.