President Sirisena meets Iranian President

COLOMBO (News 1^st) - President Maithripala Sirisena who is on a two-day tour of Iran met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday (May 13th). Ministers Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa, Rishad Bathiudeen, Rauff Hakeem, Thilak Marapana and Dr. Rajitha Senaratne were also present at the occasion when the two Presidents met.

At the subsequent bi-lateral meeting President Rouhani had said that Iran will support Sri Lanka to build railways and refineries and help expand existing refineries. He also thanked President Sirisena for extending an invitation to visit Sri Lanka in the near future.

President Sirisena had urged President Rouhani to provide a relief to the debt Sri Lanka has to pay Iran over the purchase of fuel and has stated that Sri Lanka is committed to increasing fuel imports from Iran in the future. However, he reiterated that Sri Lanka adopts a non-aligned policy and hence neutrality is imperative and requested Iran's private sector as well as government sector to invest in Sri Lanka and enjoy the tax-free concessions.

Meanwhile, several bilateral agreements between the two countries were also inked. They were in the sphere of drugs, implementation of standards, cinema, culture and health sectors.