RAWALPINDI - Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has said that Sri Lanka is a close friend of Pakistan and both countries are enjoying good relations.

He stated this on Saturday during a breakfast meeting with RCCI president Zahid Latif Khan at a local hotel, informed RCCI spokesman. Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Pakistan Major General (r) Jayanath CP Lokuketagodage was also present. Sirisena appreciated the role of business community in promoting trade ties between the two countries. He expressed hope that the bilateral ties will continue to grow in the future as Sri Lanka considers Pakistan a key ally. He also invited RCCI President Zahid Latif Khan to visit Sri Lanka and hold meetings with businessmen. RCCI chief accepted the invitation and said RCCI will take a delegation to Sri Lanka in near future and holds B2B meetings there.

RCCI president apprised him about the current and future activities of the chamber. He said that bilateral trade between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was not encouraging and stressed that both countries should focus on improving business linkages between their private sectors for exploring all untapped areas of mutual cooperation.  CPEC has now become a reality on the ground and Sri Lanka can take benefit of this opportunity and use CPEC corridor to export goods to CARs, he added.