Mr. Seiji KIHARA, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan will be arriving in Sri Lanka on Friday 9th May 2014 to further strengthen the long-standing ties between Japan and Sri Lanka.

During his visit, Mr. Kihara will call on Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, President, and meet Hon. Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Development and other Government officials to explore new avenues of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Mr. Kihara will visit the Colombo Port and the National Blood Centre which were constructed with Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA), and also visit the Colombo Dockyard which operates in partnership with Onomichi Dockyard Co. Ltd. of Japan for more than 20 years.