Ambassador Dr. Weerasinghe conveyed the warm greetings and best wishes of President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Government of Sri Lanka to President Vladimir Putin and the Government of the Russian Federation, which were warmly reciprocated by President Putin.

The Ambassador briefed President Putin on the latest developments in Sri Lanka following the Presidential and the General Elections in January and August 2015, respectively. He expressed Sri Lanka’s appreciation for the steadfast support that the Russian Federation has always extended to Sri Lanka and stated that Sri Lanka would like to further enhance the existing close and friendly relations with the Russian Federation. The need to expand the bilateral trade relations, for which there is much scope, was stressed. Ambassador Dr. Weerasinghe also indicated the need for exchanging high level visits between the two countries.

In his remarks, President Putin said that recently Russia has managed to reinforce the legal foundation of relations with Sri Lanka, which will lay the groundwork for developing comprehensively Russia’s bilateral cooperation with Sri Lanka. He also noted that Russia’s traditional contacts with Sri Lanka in the fields of fishing and agriculture were expanding.

Ambassador Dr. Saman Weerasinghe is a past pupil of Mahinda College, Galle. He is a graduate of the First Moscow State Medical University named after I.M. Sechenov. In 2012, he was awarded the prestigious Order of Honor of the Russian Federation by the President of the Russian Federation, in recognition of his contribution to develop and strengthen economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation between Sri Lanka and Russia during the past 30 years. The Order of Honour is a State Order of the Russian Federation established by Presidential Decree No. 442 of March 2, 1994 to recognize high achievements in government, economic, scientific, socio-cultural, public, sport and charitable activities.