ISLAMABAD: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday held an important meeting with Defence Minister Khawaja Asif.
Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi was also present in the meeting.
Both the sides appreciated each other for the help and coordination during the testing times, said a press release.
The Sri Lankan President thanked Pakistan for extending a warm welcome. He acknowledged the help extended by Pakistan to Sri Lanka in overcoming the issue of terrorism.
He said the assistance provided by Pakistan and its armed forces in coming out of the civil war unforgettable.
He further added that he has observed that Pakistan has a good defence budget and therefore Sri Lanka would like the defence trade, training and other assistance to continue , adding that the support and patronage especially in case of human rights will be remembered.
The Sri Lanka President added that we consider you as trusted and best friends. Sri Lankan government and people will always be with Pakistan and cooperate in economic, defense and national affairs. We greatly appreciate the support by the Government of Pakistan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Khawaja Asif welcomed the President to Pakistan and thanked him for extending nice words for the people, armed forces and the Government of Pakistan.
He said that since long Pakistan has trained 4000 cadets of the armed force of Sri Lanka. "We want to enhance cooperation with Sri Lanka fields.
It is a matter of pride for us to have such historic relations in the field of defence. He said that the pending MoUs need to be revisited and finalised to further strengthen ties between the two countries.
The Minister said that we have state of the art defence production facilities and we make them available to you for cooperation the field of defence production.
He said that the only two armies actively combating terror in their countries have been Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Our 200,000 troops are engaged in fighting the war. We are also proud that we have made you overcome the problem of terrorism. It is a matter of great satisfaction that peace has prevailed in Sri Lanka and we hope to achieve that here too.
The meeting ended on the note that cooperation will be extended to Sri Lanka in all areas of bilateral cooperation as we value our relations with them greatly.
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