Sl/india/japan tri-party defence agreement in the offing

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Japanese State Minister for Defence Toshiko Abe in bilateral talks held yesterday had focused towards signing a defence pact. Prime Minister’s office said in a statement that Mr. Wickremesinghe and Ms. Abe had bilateral discussion at Temple Trees yesterday where the latter had said Japan will support Sri Lanka to fight global terrorism.

The statement also mentioned that Mr. Wickremesinghe had thanked Japan for the support it is giving Sri Lanka with regard to defence. Also the Prime Minister had briefed the Japanese State Minister on the tri-party agreement to be signed by Sri Lanka Maldives and India. He had briefed the Japanese State Minister on the talks he has had with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi recently.

Also the duo had focused on tri-party programme comprised of Indian and Japan to develop the transportation sector and several other sectors in Sri Lanka.

Japanese Ambassador in Sri Lanka Akira Sugiyama also participated in the discussion.