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Sri Lanka, interested in Romanian railroad cars
Nearly 80 per cent of the railroad cars in Sri Lanka were made in Romania, Romania's Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean said Friday at a joint press conference with visiting Sri Lankan counterpart Gamini Lakshman Peiris, who voiced interest in renewing Sri Lanka's fleet of such cars, some of which are over 25 years old.
'I am honoured to point out that this is the first visit to Romania of a foreign minister of Sri Lanka in the past 35 years. Romania's relations with Sri Lanka can be said to be traditional, both in terms of political dialogue and in terms of economic cooperation. Romania has been a significant presence in a development sector deemed strategic by the Sri Lankan authorities, namely the railroad infrastructure,' said Corlatean.
He added that this is one of the important economic projects on the agenda of Peiris' visit to Bucharest that will be discussed today with the local business community and at the Transport Ministry.
He also said he established a bilateral consultation mechanism with his Sri Lankan counterpart that will allow the two countries to approach topics of shared interest.
Moreover, agreement was reached on holding a bilateral business forum as part of a trade mission that will be headed by a high-ranking official, possibly before the summer recess, Corlatean added.
'We also discussed the fields in which we want to promote mutual investments, such as Romania's participation in World Bank-sponsored reconstruction and development projects in Sri Lanka, the export of Romanian wines, the import of tea from Sri Lanka to Romania, agricultural cooperation and high tech cooperation,' he added.
The Romanian chief diplomat voiced interest in cultural exchanges and the presence of an as high number of Sri Lankan citizens as possible at Romania universities, and tourism development.
Peiris voiced in his turn interest in providing a larger and deeper content to relations between Romania and Sri Lanka, taking into account the contemporary priorities of both countries.
'The agreement we signed today, concerning bilateral political consultations, provides an institutional framework for the negotiations that will be necessary from now on. We are working on some agreements that have to be finalised - the avoidance of double taxation, the promotion of investments and tourism cooperation. I believe all these are important because we have to give a priority place to economic cooperation between Romania and Sri Lanka,' he said.
In relation to the project for the renewal of Sri Lanka's fleet of railroad cars, Peiris said 80 per cent of the cars were supplied by Romania and are still being used.
'Some of them are more than 25 years old. Renewing them is an outmost priority. I want to voice my gratitude to the contribution of Romania toward the development of Sri Lanka's railroads, a very strong tool for the unification of the country,' Peiris said, adding that the railroads connect the country from the mountains to the sea coast.
He said Romania had a correct assessment of the modern priorities and took measures accordingly. He mentioned Romania has recently opend an honorary consulate in Sri Lanka.
An important moment in Peiris' visit to Bucharest was the signing of bilateral documents that are significant for the prospects of the political and diplomatic dialogue as well as for academic cooperation, a memorandum of understanding between the two foreign ministries and a memorandum of cooperation between the Romanian Diplomatic Institute and the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Affairs and Strategic Studies of Colombo.