Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has held several rounds of talks with Indian, US, British, Chinese and Japanese diplomats in Sri Lanka as a first step towards reviving the country’s economy, since taking office today.
Mr. Wickremesinghe had earlier stated in Parliament that a foreign forum should be set up with allied countries to obtain financial assistance for the country and that Sri Lanka had set up such forums in difficult times and experienced successful results in earlier times.
The Prime Minister today held preliminary talks with Indian High Commissioner Gopal Bagle, Japanese Ambassador to Misukoshi Hideki, US Ambassador Julie Chung and Chinese Ambassador Yi Xianliang.
The discussions with the Indian High Commissioner focused on the steps taken for economic recovery and the High Commissioner pledged continued support to Sri Lanka.
The Japanese Ambassador also pledged their continued support to stabilize the Sri Lankan economy. He said he would leave for Tokyo tomorrow to discuss about Sri Lanka.
The two Ambassadors discussed measures taken to enlist the assistance of other foreign countries to assist the Sri Lankan economy.
With the US Ambassador, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe discussed the forthcoming visit of the US Treasury Department team to Sri Lanka.
Regarding the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and how to strengthen the oversight committees in Parliament were also discussed at the meeting.
During his meeting with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, the Chinese Ambassador guaranteed his continued support to Sri Lanka and pledged to review the assistance provided to Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe spoke through telephone with British High Commissioner Sarah Hulton before she leaves for the United Kingdom and said she would brief the British government on the situation in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, a separate emergency meeting was held with the participation of former Ministers Kanchana Wijesekera, Susil Premajayantha, Sagala Ratnayake and other senior officials of the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
Discussions focused on the energy crisis in the country and the measures that can be taken to ease the burden on the people.
