Afghan Foreign Minister visits Sri Lanka; Indian Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh visits Sri Lanka; GDP grew 4.8 percent in the third quarter of 2012; MR Congratulates Japan’s newly elect PM
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    • DECEMBER 17-23

    According to reports, Afghanistan Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Zalmai Rassoul visited Sri Lanka from 18 to 21 December 2012. During the visit, Dr. Rassoul met with high level government officials and held a number of discussions on matters of economics, education, science and technology. During discussions with the Minister of External Affairs of Sri Lanka both parties had noted that they had similar issues and were dealing with the process of reconciliation with home-grown solutions. It was decided that Sri Lanka will open a resident mission in Kabul, Afghanistan and a Resident Mission of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan will open a resident mission in Colombo to strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries. The Sri Lankan government has also agreed to send skilled labourers to contribute towards rebuilding Afghanistan and restoring cultural artifacts in the country. 1

    In another development, reports noted that the Indian government and the military were fully committed to Sri Lanka’s security and to further strengthening co-operation between the two countries, visiting Indian Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh made this comment when he met President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat on December 20, 2012. 2

    In other developments, according to reports, Sri Lanka’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 4.8 percent in the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12) against 8.5 percent growth recorded in the same period of the previous year (3Q11). 3

    President Rajapaksa has congratulated Japan’s Prime Minister-elect Shinzo Abe on his victory. 4

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