Sri Lanka president concludes Tokyo visit; off to Manila to chair ADB meeting

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe is set to arrive in Manila, Philippines, Wednesday September 28 evening, where he will chair a meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s board of governors, an aide said.

Director of International Affairs at the president’s office Dinouk Colombage tweeted Wednesday afternoon that Wickremesinghe will be departing Tokyo later that afternoon, concluding an official visit to Japan.

Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardena is expected to join the president at the ADB meeting.

Wickremesinghe will also meet Philippines President Bongbong Marcos, a statement from the president’s office said earlier in the week.

President Wickremesinghe was in Tokyo to attend the official funeral of slain ex Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

There, the president held bilateral talks with incumbent Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and also called on Emperor Naruhito at Imperial Palace in the Japanese capital on Wednesday, the president’s office said.

On Tuesday, Wickremesinghe told Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi that his government is keen to restart Japan-funded projects cancelled by the previous administration.  Minister Hayashi, meanwhile, expressed his country’s willingness to take a leading role in Sri Lanka’s negotiations with her creditors.

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Sri Lanka keen to restart cancelled Japanese projects; Japan willing to lead creditor talks: PMD