During the meeting, Dr Tedros emphasized the historic and traditional cordial relations Ethiopia has with Sri Lanka and thanked the President for opening an Embassy in his country to further strengthen economic relations between the two countries.

He congratulated the President for his commitment to endorse Sustainable Development Goals and thanked him for showing leadership in preventive healthcare reforms and policy implementation.

President Sirisena emphasized Sri Lanka’s strong relations with the African Union in many fields, especially, in trade and economy.

“We are a very investment friendly country and we seek investments from every region,” he said.

The Sri Lankan President expressed appreciation for the role Dr Tedros played as the former Minister of Health during challenging times.

Ethiopia is a largely an agricultural economy with close to 100 million population. The country is implementing structural changes to agriculture-based industrialization. Sri Lankan firms in textile manufacturing have operations in Ethiopia.

Minister of Health Dr Rajitha Senaratne also attended the meeting.

Source: http://www.colombopage.com