President Mahinda Rajapaksa met and held talks with Indian Premier Manmohan Singh on September 23 at the UN Headquarters. The meeting took place after he addressed the 66th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The talks focused attention on many bilateral topics that are of regional and international significance.

In the meantime, he also met with Indian diplomat and Commonwealth Secretary-General Mr. Kamalesh Sharma.

Later, President Rajapaksa met with Dr. Mohammed Waheed Hassan, the Vice President of the Republic of the Maldives. They discussed regionally and bilaterally important matters. The President was praised by his Maldivian counterpart for the speedy progress achieved by Sri Lanka within a short period of time.

These events were attended by Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris, Parliamentarian Sajin Vass Gunawardena, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, and Palith Kohona the current the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN.