Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said that Pakistan values its relations with Sri Lanka which are based on mutual respect, shared civilizational heritage and shared perceptions on host of issues.

He said that there was a need to translate this equation into economic terms and take advantage of each other’s economic expertise and opportunities when the visiting Minister of External Affairs Prof. G. L. Peiris called on him here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

Pak-Sri Lankan bilateral relations, mutual cooperation with special reference to that of trade and other related matters were discussed during the meeting, Pakistan media reported.

Progress on the proposed currency swap agreement for promoting and facilitating mutual trade also came under discussion.

The President said that by increasing the synergies of Pak-Sri Lanka economies and reinforcing institutional framework for economic cooperation, the mutual trade volume can be significantly increased by the two countries.
It may be recalled that President Zardari during his visit to Sri Lanka had offered assistance to Sri Lanka in cement, sugar and dairy industry and had called for exploring new and unconventional phase of economic cooperation between the two countries.

The currency swap agreement was thus proposed to reduce pressure on foreign exchange reserves of the two countries.

Prof G. L. Peiris thanked the President for meeting and hoped that the mutual cooperation and bilateral relations would be further strengthened with each passing day.