Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2011-07-27

Establishment of a Resident Sri Lanka Mission in Ankara, Republic of Turkey

- Sri Lanka and Turkey enjoy long standing bilateral relations. Sri Lanka's bilateral trade with Turkey has recorded a 50% growth from US $97.431 million in 2005 to US $145.994 million in 2009. Turkey is one of the largest importers of Sri Lankan Tea. There is considerable potential for attracting more Turkish investments in fisheries, food processing, infrastructure development, electronics and IT Sectors etc. With the view to increase the relationship between the two countries, the proposal made by Hon. (Prof) G.L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs to establish an Embassy in Ankara, in the Republic of Turkey, was approved by the Cabinet.