COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has urged Sri Lanka to increase reconciliation with the island’s ethnic Tamil minority following the end of the decades-long separatist conflict.
Abe, who arrived in Colombo on Sunday on a two-day official visit as his country’s first prime minister to visit Sri Lanka in 24 years, made these remarks in a joint statement issued after bilateral talks with the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“The president and I also reconfirmed the importance of Sri Lanka’s national reconciliation after the conflict and engagement with the international community,” Abe said.
The two leaders during the meeting agreed to forge stronger maritime links between their countries in a move partly aimed at countering China’s influence in the region.
