In order to restore democracy, the American people will stand with Sri Lanka, thus, the US will establish an annual partnership dialogue with the island nation, US Secretary of State John Kerry said.

John Kerry made the first visit to Sri Lanka by a U.S. secretary of state in a decade today (2), championing the new government’s fresh effort at democratic reform and promising to deepen ties with a country that sits at a strategic crossroads in the vast Indian Ocean.

Sri Lanka’s government, determined to end years of international isolation linked to its long war with Tamil separatists, rolled out the red carpet for Kerry — literally. He entered the Foreign Ministry under a welcome sign bearing his image and was greeted by musicians playing horns and drums and dancers in silver breastplates as he proceeded down a long crimson rug.
“In this journey to restore your democracy, the American people stand with you,” Kerry declared.

“We intend to broaden and deepen our partnership with you,” he added, saying the two countries would start an annual partnership dialogue and that U.S. officials from the Treasury and Commerce departments would provide technical assistance to Sri Lanka’s government.

Kerry’s trip, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said, “signifies our little island nation’s return to the center stage of international affairs,” vowing that Sri Lanka would become a “full-fledged parliamentary democracy” and an “investor’s paradise.”