H.E. Dr. Saman Weerasinghe, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation called on H.E. Igor Petrishenko, Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to the Russian Federation on 18 December 2015.
Congratulating Ambassador Dr. Weerasinghe on his new assignment, Ambassador Petrishenko noted that Belarus and Sri Lanka have had very close relations since the establishment of diplomatic relations 15 years ago.

He expressed the hope that these relations would be expanded during the tenure of Ambassador Dr. Weerasinghe, who would be designated as the concurrently accredited Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Republic of Belarus. 
The two Ambassadors reviewed the progress made in the implementation of 10 bilateral Agreements signed in August 2013 and several pending Agreements, on which consultations have already been complete.
Ambassador Weerasinghe indicated that the two countries could cooperate in the fields of agriculture, higher education, culture and tourism. There is scope in the agriculture area where Sri Lankan and Belarus’ enterprises could cooperate to grow agricultural products in Sri Lanka for export markets outside Sri Lanka. More Sri Lankan students could benefit from higher education opportunities in Belarus. Regarding tourism promotion Ambassador Weerasinghe flagged the idea of the National Airline of the Belarus Belavia beginning charter flights to Sri Lanka via Moscow to cater to both Belarus and Russian tourists, since at present they have to travel to Sri Lanka via stopovers in the Gulf region. 
While agreeing to pursue these proposals, Ambassador Petrishenko additionally identified Dairy and Pharmaceutical industries as areas where the two countries could cooperate. The two sides noted that the next session of the Sri Lanka – Belarus Joint Commission would take place in Minsk in February 2016, and the Belarus is awaiting a Parliamentary delegation led by the Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka to visit Belarus in the near future.