Pak's top diplomat to visit Lanka for bilateral talks

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani will visit Sri Lanka this week to take part in the third round of bilateral consultations.
During his stay from April 4 to 5, Jilani will call upon Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Minister of External Affairs G L Peiris and Minister for Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa, a Foreign Ministry statement said today.
He will also hold in-depth discussions on a variety of bilateral issues of mutual interest with his counterpart Karunatilaka Amunugama as well as with Secretary Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the statement said.
The last round of talks took place between July 17-19, 2007, in Islamabad.

The visit of the Foreign Secretary to Sri Lanka is part of a tradition of high-level contacts and exchanges between the two countries.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka have active engagement in all important fields including trade and commerce.

"The visit of the Foreign Secretary would contribute in bolstering the existing ties of friendship and cooperation between Pakistan and Sri Lanka," it said.
Relations between the two are based on mutual trust and shared interest in maintaining regional peace, security and stability, the Foreign Ministry said.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka enjoy commonality of views on regional and international issues and regularly coordinate their positions multilaterally, especially as manifested at the United Nations and SAARC, it added.

Thirteen countries, including Pakistan, voted against a contentious US-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka's human rights record which was adopted in the 47-nation strong UNHRC last month.