Burkhalter (left) was received by Sri Lankan President Sirisena and deputy Foreign Minister Perera
Keystone
Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter says Switzerland is willing to open a new chapter in bilateral relations with Sri Lanka following presidential elections in January.
This content was published on
1 minute
Urs Geiser, swissinfo.ch
On a visit to Colombo on Tuesday Burkhalter praised the new Sri Lankan government for its political reforms and its reconciliation efforts with ethnic minorities in the country.
Burkhalter stressed that an open and broad dialogue with all parties involved in 25 years of civil war was key to rebuilding confidence, according to a foreign ministry statement.
In talks with President Maithripala Sirisena and other top government representatives Burkhalter also discussed possibilities of boosting bilateral trade. The trade volume currently stands at about CHF300 million annually ($298 million), the statement added.
Critics
Human rights groups have warned that it is too early to normalise relations and prepare closer trade ties as tensions between the Sinhalese majority and the ethnic Tamil minority are continuing six years after the civil war officially ended.
Switzerland is home to more than 45,000 Tamils who fled the conflict. Last year 1,270 people from Sri Lanka applied for asylum in Switzerland – the third biggest single group.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Sri Lankan asylum seekers wrongly expelled
This content was published on
A report released on Monday referred to a series of blunders resulting from “systemic conditions”, which led to the wrong decision being made in 2011. An external investigation into the matter was ordered after the Federal Administrative Court found the asylum applications to be valid, but only after the two men had been deported. The…
This content was published on
The possibility of applying for asylum at a Swiss embassy in a foreign country was discontinued on September 29, 2012. Between January 1, 2009, and September 29, 2012, almost 20,000 asylum requests were granted to persons whose lives or physical integrity were deemed to be seriously threatened. At the time the option of applying for…
This content was published on
The move was taken to avoid further arrests of Tamils upon their return from Switzerland, according to the Federal Migration Office. A spokeswoman said the Swiss embassy to Colombo was mandated to investigate the fate of two Tamils who were repatriated recently. Among them is a man, who was politically active while he and his…
This content was published on
Since 2011 South Africa and civil society groups have been leading a multi-pronged peace initiative aimed at restarting Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Sri Lankan government negotiations and supporting potential reconciliation efforts following the end of 30 years of war. Sri Lankan and South African officials visited each other on several occasions last year and…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.