On October 14, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received Vijitha Herath, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

Axar.az reports that, expressing gratitude for the invitation to the Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), the Sri Lankan Minister congratulated President Ilham Aliyev on hosting this prestigious event in Baku and on Azerbaijan’s successful chairmanship of the organization. He expressed confidence that the Summit would contribute to expanding cooperation among member states.

President Ilham Aliyev thanked the member states, including Sri Lanka, for supporting Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of CICA. He noted that this support demonstrated the success of Azerbaijan’s chairmanship and reflected respect and trust in Azerbaijan.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that the visit of Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism also provided a good opportunity to discuss bilateral cooperation.

Vijitha Herath expressed gratitude for the humanitarian assistance provided by Azerbaijan to Sri Lanka during recent natural disasters.

During the meeting, the sides highlighted the strong cooperation between Azerbaijan and Sri Lanka within international organizations, including the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement and CICA.

They exchanged views on opportunities to expand economic, trade and tourism ties in line with the level of political relations. Noting that Sri Lankan students are currently studying in Azerbaijan, the sides also discussed prospects for cooperation in education.