Alice Wells delivers letter to Prez from Trump

15 January 2020 07:21 am Views - 3480

A top U.S. official who was in Sri Lanka yesterday delivered a letter from her President Donald Trump to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa underscoring his government’s commitment and interest in furthering and depending partnership with Sri Lanka.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of States for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells told a select group of journalists that it was a constructive partnership on shared values.

In her interaction with the journalists at the VIP lounge of the airport prior to her departure, she said she had cordial and excellent meetings with President Rajapaksa and others. “In the context of our conversation, we were able to point to what has been our success in working with Sri Lanka to advance counter-terrorism cooperation, military to military engagements, economic development including exploration of the Millennium Challenge Corporation grant, “ she said.

Asserting that the U.S. is Sri Lanka’s largest export market, she said this was a partnership beneficial to both the countries. Asked about the current status of the MCC agreement, she said the U.S. was happy about the appointment of a committee by President Rajapaksa to look at it. (Kelum Bandara)