President Nazarbayev assures Lankan leader :

Kazakhstan will stand by Sri Lanka

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev assured President Mahinda Rajapaksa that his country would stand by Sri Lanka against all international pressures .He also pointed out that a country should look for home grown solutions in dealing with its problems .

President Rajapaksa who is on a three-day state visit to Kazakhstan met his counterpart President Nazarbayev yesterday morning for bilateral talks.

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev pledged his country’s wholehearted support towards Sri Lanka’s post conflict development during discussions held with his counterpart President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Kazakhstan capital of Astana yesterday.

President Nazarbayev welcomed his counterpart with a military guard of honour. President Rajapaksa was accompanied by First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa and the rest of the Lankan delegation.

The two leaders discussed ways of further improving trade-economic cooperation and tourism between the two countries, President’s Media Coordinating Secretary Vijayananda Herath in a release said.

They also discussed on the possibility of increasing direct flights between the two countries to strengthen the tourism flow in to Sri Lanka and open new avenues for trade and investments.

Attention was also drawn to setting up of factories to develop gem and graphite industries in Sri Lanka with the help of Kazakh investors. President Nazarbayev said that he will support to organize Sri Lankan gem exhibitions in his country.

During discussions while Kazakhstan voiced interest in buying Ceylon tea, Sri Lanka showed interest in purchasing gas and fuel from Kazakhstan.

President Nazarbayev also congratulated President Rajapaksa on the political and economic transformation that took place in Sri Lanka after the conflict. Speaking on certain international pressures against Sri Lanka based on false allegations, President Nazarbayev assured President Rajapaksa that his country would stand by Sri Lanka. On the occasion he pointed out that a country should look for home grown solutions for its difficulties. President Rajapaksa said that Sri Lanka will help Kazakhstan to obtain host status for the EXPO exhibition slated to be held in 2017. He also invited his Kazakhstan counterpart to visit Sri Lanka.

President Rajapaksa’s visit comes when Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan are celebrating 20 years of diplomatic relations. Sri Lanka established diplomatic relations with Kazakhstan on June 29, 1992.