Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mohamed Uvais Mohamed Ali Sabry called on President Ramchandra Paudel on Friday.

During the meeting at Sheetal Niwas, the president’s office, Paudel recalled the remarks by the then Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015 that Lumbini would be a cultural destination of the world. During his visit to Nepal, he had emphasised that cultural relations between Nepal and Sri Lanka should be made stronger and broader.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Sabry said it is necessary to further strengthen the cultural relations and increase the investment opportunities between the two countries, according to Kiran Pokharel, press adviser to the President.

The Sri Lankan minister arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday to attend the first meeting of the Nepal-Sri Lanka joint commission that concluded in Kathmandu on Thursday.

The meeting was co-chaired by Foreign Minister NP Saud and his Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabry.

An MoU on Cooperation in the Fields of Science, Technology and Innovation was signed between the two countries, after the talks in the presence of foreign ministers on Thursday.

The Sri Lankan foreign minister also called on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Thursday.

During the joint commission meeting, the two sides discussed strengthening bilateral ties as well as regional forums like the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec).