Eurasia Review
April 11, 2015
Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena and the visiting Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay pledged to enhance bilateral cooperation and establish air links between Paro and Colombo by Druk Air, the Bhutanese national Carrier.
The two leaders agreed that Sri Lanka and Bhutan have a special relationship as the two countries are bound by common spiritual link of Buddhism.
Prime Minister Tobgay said that his country is extremely grateful to Sri Lanka for the gift of a sapling of Sri Maha Bodhi to Bhutan and it will be highly venerated and respected in his country. He said that the Bodhi sapling will be a sacred symbol of the extraordinary spiritual bonds between Bhutan and Sri Lanka.
During the bilateral discussions, Mr Tobgay thanked Sri Lanka for providing placements to Bhutanese students in Sri Lankan medical colleges and it is a great help to the improvement of the health service in his country. President Sirisena said he would provide more seats to Bhutanese students at the Medical faculty of the Kotalawala Defence Academy and examine the possibility of increasing the number of scholarships given to Bhutan.
President Sirisena said steps would be taken to increase cooperation in areas such as health, agriculture and tourism between the two countries.
