Nepal and Sri Lanka have agreed to boost cooperation in key areas and make economic, cultural, political and trade relations between the two countries. Visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary, Palitha Kohona and Nepali counterpart Gyan Chandra Acharya discussed the entire gamut of relations, including bilateral cooperation in 15 key areas, identified by the Permanent Joint Commission.

The Commission took shape during the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in March.

The areas of cooperation identified by the Commission include trade, tourism, education, health, investment, civil aviation, finance, sports, and culture. After the meeting with Kohona, Foreign Secretary Acharya said that Nepal could benefit from the Sri Lankan experience and expertise in such areas as health and education.

“Sri Lanka has very successful literacy rate and they have good coverage of health service which is equal to developed countries.

Chances of trade and investment from Sri Lanka to Nepal also figured in the meeting,” Mr.Acharya said. Like Nepal, Sri Lanka is planning to observe 2011 as Tourism Year and both the secretaries agreed to promote joint cooperation that year.

“If we are able to work jointly to celebrate the particular tourism year, tourists will have chances of visiting the Himalayas as well as sea coasts, which will again boost tourism in the entire region. To this effect, we can also prepare joint promotional packages,” he said.