I want to thank Prime Minister Thavisin for accepting my invitation to be the Guest of Honour at the celebration of the 76th anniversary of Sri Lanka's independence.
The main focus of this visit is accelerating economic cooperation between Sri Lanka and Thailand. There is significant potential for expanding trade and investment ties between our two countries, which have remained largely untapped. The Prime Minister and I witnessed the signing of the Sri Lanka-Thailand Free Trade Agreement (SLTFTA) a short while ago. This is the second FTA; Sri Lanka is concluding with an ASEAN partner, the first with Singapore. The two sides worked expeditiously to conclude this agreement, highlighting the vital interest of both Governments in this important endeavour.
This is a milestone in our economic partnership, and operationalizing the FTA will be a priority. The FTA is expected to boost trade and investment ties between the two countries.
Additionally, we have renewed the Air-Services Agreement to enhance connectivity between the two countries, and a MoU has been concluded between the Gems and Jewellery Research and Training Institute of Sri Lanka and the Gems and Jewellery Institute of Thailand. Both of these agreements will enhance economic, trade and tourism exchanges.
Today, we also had a very productive discussion on elevating Sri Lanka-Thai relations. During the bilateral discussion between our two delegations, which concluded a little while ago, we covered a wide range of areas of cooperation. There is considerable potential to develop tourism, trade and other areas of economic cooperation between Sri Lanka and Thailand. We see great potential for enhanced investments from Thailand coming into Sri Lanka, and we discussed possible areas for collaboration. We also had a detailed exchange on cooperation in the agriculture and fisheries sectors, which both countries are keenly interested in pursuing.
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