Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has held productive discussions with the President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, during a visit to Colombo. The visit marked the 70th anniversary of bilateral relations and highlighted the strong friendship between the two countries.
The leaders identified new areas of collaboration including in trade and investment, defence and security matters. Prime Minister Turnbull expressed appreciation for Sri Lanka’s strong cooperation in countering people smuggling.
In discussions with President Sirisena, Prime Minister Turnbull announced three Australian Stabicraft vessels will be given to the Sri Lankan Coast Guard to boost maritime security, as well as assistance from the Australian Federal Police to reinforce Sri Lanka’s counter-narcotics efforts. This builds on the strong existing cooperation between Australia and Sri Lanka in addressing transnational crime, and people smuggling.
Prime Minister Turnbull also offered Australia’s support to establish Sri Lanka’s proposed National Defence College, with a senior Australian military officer to be seconded to the College for two years from 2018.