U.S. hails Sri Lanka's 100 days program

The United States said that despite some difficult challenges ahead for Sri Lanka, the country has put forward an ambitious agenda for their first 100 days, the president's office said in a statement on Tuesday. Visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal made the comments while meeting Sri Lanka's newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday.

The U.S. assistant secretary also said that Sri Lanka can count on the United States to be a partner and a friend in the way forward. Biswal is currently on a two-day visit to the island country aimed at establishing ties with the new Sri Lankan government which came to power following the Jan. 8 presidential election. "President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremasinghe have put forth an ambitious agenda for their first one hundred days and much has already been accomplished in such a short time. But we recognize that there is a lot of hard work ahead and some difficult challenges," Biswal said during her meeting with the state head. "Sri Lanka can count on the United States to be a partner and a friend in the way forward. Whether it is on rebuilding the economy, on preventing corruption and advancing good governance, and ensuring human rights and democratic participation for all of its citizens," Biswal added.

She further said that the United States looked forward to growing and deepening the partnership between the two countries and to advancing trade and investment. In an effort to boost ties between the two countries, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, who met Biswal in Colombo on Monday, told reporters that he will be traveling to Washington next week for talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Samaraweera's visit came after a major diplomatic rift emerged between the United States and Sri Lanka during the previous government over the island nation's human rights record. Endi