Foreign Office Consultations between Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan are scheduled to be held on 11 April 2024 in Astana, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Issuing a statement, the Foreign Ministry stated that the Sri Lanka Delegation will be led by Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardane.

Following the meeting between President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart K. Tokayev last year a decision was taken to open a resident Sri Lanka Embassy in Kazakhstan. Discussions in Kazakhstan are expected to focus on trade, investment, tourism and modalities for opening the new Sri Lanka mission, it added.

On the sidelines of the Foreign Office Consultations meetings are also scheduled to take place with the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Secretariat in Astana. Sri Lanka is a member of CICA.

Following the consultations in Astana the delegation led by the Foreign Secretary will leave for Bishkek for the inaugural bilateral consultations between the Foreign Ministries of Sri Lanka and the Kyrgyz Republic which will take place on 15 April 2024. 

During the Consultations in the Kyrgyz Republic the focus will be on identifying areas of cooperation and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two Foreign Ministries on Bilateral Consultations, according to the ministry.