Rt Hon John Key
Prime Minister
17 February 2016
Prime Minister to visit Sri Lanka
Prime Minister John Key will make an official visit to Sri Lanka next week to highlight the growing commercial and
political ties between the two countries.
Mr Key will meet with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as well as speak
with a number of local businesspeople to promote New Zealand’s interests in the region.
He will also lead a business delegation to focus on the significant opportunities to diversify trade between New Zealand
and Sri Lanka, which stood at $324m in 2015.
“Sri Lanka has a growing middle class which offers New Zealand businesses a range of exciting opportunities,” Mr Key
says.
“We have a 45 year dairy trade history, but commercial relationships are extending further with more and more of our
businesses recognising Sri Lanka as a potential market for high-quality New Zealand services and products.”
The visit will be Mr Key’s second to Sri Lanka as Prime Minister, having travelled there in 2013 for the Commonwealth
Heads of Government meeting.
It will also provide an opportunity for Mr Key to witness the progress that Sri Lanka has made in recent years as it
recovers from its decades-long civil war.
“New Zealand recognises the considerable efforts the people and Government of Sri Lanka are putting into the country’s
reconciliation process and we are hugely supportive of those, including through our work to boost the country’s own
dairy sector to improve the livelihoods of its farmers,” Mr Key says.
While in the capital Colombo, Mr Key will also chair a meeting of the Executive Committee of the International Democrat
Union.
Mr Key will be in Sri Lanka from 24-26 February.
ends