A whirlwind official visit of a Spanish Minister to Sri Lanka, for the first time in ten years, has resulted in consensus in strengthening trade, tourism and aviation ties. Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, Jose Manuel Gracia was in Colombo for a little over a day. He was due to leave last night.

Flanked by External Affairs Minister G. L. Peris, the visiting Minister told a group of local and foreign journalists at the Foreign Ministry yesterday, that at the bilateral discussions held earlier in the day between the two sides, it had been agreed to expand trade ties, embark on joint tourism promotion, establish air links and cooperate in various other fields as well.

Gracia announced that his government had also decided to establish an embassy in Colombo. In response to a request by Peiris, he said that they had agreed to assist in expanding Sri Lanaka’s trade relations, especially in the field of cinnamon and other spices, with countries in Latin America, which had strong ties with Spain.

The Ministers revealed that they had also discussed modalities for increasing bilateral trade volumes and the promotion of Sri Lanka as a prime tourist destination in Spain. It was also agreed to engage in tourism infrastructure development and establish air links between Madrid and Colombo, though the Spanish airline Iberia, they noted.

Gracia said that coming from a country that had to combat the Basque separatists, he was happy to see that the war had ended in Sri Lanka and hoped to the see the country and its people flourish in the years to come. There was ample scope for cooperation in almost every field and both countries were committed to pursuing it determination and purpose, the visiting Minister observed.

Source : http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=109857