G L Peiris set for talks with Balakrishnan

COLOMBO: Foreign Affairs Prof. G. L. Peiris will travel to Singapore for a bilateral visit on the invitation of his counterpart, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore Vivian Balakrishnan.

During his visit, Minister Peiris will hold bilateral discussions with Foreign Minister Balakrishnan and meetings with the Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong, Minister for Law and Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam and other senior officials.

Following the visit, Minister Peiris will take part in the 19th IISS Shangri-La Dialogue: Asia Security Summit from 10 -11 June, the ministry said.

The minister will be representing the President of Sri Lanka at the Security Summit. The IISS Shangri-La Dialogue is Asia’s premier security summit and will focus on issues of security, cooperation and challenges in the Asia-Pacific region.

Minister Peiris will take part in the Ministerial Roundtables.

On the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, Foreign Minister Peiris is scheduled to have bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister of Japan, Deputy Prime Minister of the State of Qatar, the Foreign Minister of Bahrain, Secretary of State for Defence of the UK, US Secretary of Defence, the High Representative of the European Union and the Regional Director for Asia and Pacific of the ICRC, among others.

The bilateral meetings will provide an opportunity for the Minister to brief on the current situation in Sri Lanka and discuss current economic recovery and future needs of the country.