• SL interested in becoming ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partner

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake informed that advancing cooperation with Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a principal tenet of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy under his administration. He also added that Sri Lanka is interested in becoming an ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partner.

This was noted in the joint statement between Sri Lanka and Vietnam on the State visit of President Dissanayake to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 4 May to yesterday (6).

Vietnamese President Luong Cuong and President Dissanayake identified as priorities for implementation this year, the early convening of the fifth round of bilateral political consultations between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the third meeting of the Sub Committee on Trade, and the fourth meeting of the Joint Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation. 

On facilitating trade and investment, they agreed to review the bilateral investment treaty and the avoidance of double taxation agreement. Both sides agreed to take pragmatic steps to increase bilateral trade such as trade facilitation, information exchange, promote business-to-business links through trade missions, as well as business matching, exhibitions, and seminars, aimed at bringing the trade turnover to $ 1 billion in the near future. 

President Dissanayake expressed Sri Lanka’s interest in attracting foreign direct investments, particularly in the agriculture, food processing, manufacturing, renewable energy, electronic and automobile components, real estate, hospitality, pharmaceutical, hospitals, tele-communication, logistics, infrastructure and industrial infrastructure sectors.

The two sides agreed to review and renew the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Defence Cooperation. The two sides also agreed to enhance cooperation in education and training, and intelligence sharing in United Nations Peacekeeping operations. The importance of enhancing cooperation in combating transnational crimes inter alia terrorism, illegal immigration and cybercrimes was also underscored. The two sides also discussed opportunities for cooperation in the area of defence industry in order to enhance the capacity building. With regard to security sector cooperation, Vietnam and Sri Lanka agreed to strengthen ties between the two Ministries of Public Security.

Both sides agreed to encourage both countries’ Airlines to soon commence direct flights.  Given the strides made by Vietnam in advancing its agriculture sector, particularly in the areas of automation, mechanisation and scientific research, and in the area of post-harvest processing, President Dissanayake requested for the sharing of expertise and exchanges to support the efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka to encourage agriculture modernisation. Both sides agreed to fully implement the agriculture work plan for 2024-2026. 

Both sides encouraged the related agencies to sign a work plan for education cooperation based on the renewed education cooperation agreement of 1999. President Dissanayake highlighted the importance of expanding opportunities for students, particularly through increased scholarships in the fields of science, technology, and agriculture. In response, the Vietnamese side expressed interest in receiving more scholarships in the area of Buddhist studies.