ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga will pay an official visit to Pakistan from February 8-9 during which a number of agreements will be signed to promote bilateral cooperation , particularly in the economic field, it is learnt.
Her visit will take place soon after the 13th Saarc Summit in Dhaka, from where she will fly straight to Pakistan, leading a 20-member delegation, sources said. A major agreement to be signed will be the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that was recently negotiated between the two sides, diplomatic sources told Dawn on Tuesday.
Other agreements likely to be concluded during the visit would be in the area of technical education and gem industry. An agreement on exchange of prisoners is being considered, the sources said, adding that a plan of action on cultural exchanges, aimed at promoting people-to-people contact, is also likely to be signed.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during his visit to Sri Lanka on Nov 21, 2004, in his capacity as Saarc Chairman, held wide-ranging talks with President Kumaratunga.
Both leaders underlined the need to continue high-level interactions between the two countries to further develop their partnership for peace and development. They agreed to strengthen cooperation in the field of defence.
As a goodwill gesture, Pakistan also offered a $10 million export credit facility to Sri Lanka, which could be utilized for the purchase of goods from Pakistan. Prime Minister Aziz also announced doubling the number of scholarships for Sri Lankan students, from eight to 16, and offered placements for Sri Lankan diplomats at the Foreign Service Institute.
New areas of bilateral cooperation identified by the two sides included tourism, exchange of parliamentary delegations, banking, telecommunications, IT, textile and garment sector as well as gem and jewellery industry. The strengthening of air links between the two countries had also been proposed.
An invitation was extended to the Sri Lankan president by President Gen Pervez Musharraf last year to visit Pakistan. Initially, she was supposed to come around mid January but due to the tsunami disaster and postponement of the 13th Saarc Summit her visit was deferred till February. President Kumaratunga last visited Pakistan in January 2003 to attend the 12th Saarc Summit in Islamabad.
