Japan has reiterated the importance of the early completion of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the debt restructuring between the Official Creditor Committee and the Sri Lankan Government.
Japan also emphasized the need to ensure transparency and comparability in agreements with creditors outside the Official Creditor Committee, the Japanese Foreign Ministry in a statement said.
According to the statement, Kazuya Endo, Director-General, International Cooperation Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry had noted the above during the Japan–Sri Lanka Economic Cooperation Policy Dialogue held in Colombo recently.
During his visit to Sri Lanka, Endo held the Japan–Sri Lanka Economic Cooperation Policy Dialogue with Finance Secretary K.M.M. Siriwardana to have a comprehensive exchange of views on bilateral economic cooperation as a follow-up to the Japan–Sri Lanka Summit Meeting held in May last year.
During the dialogue, DG Endo expressed his appreciation for Sri Lanka’s reform efforts under the IMF programme and his expectation that Sri Lanka will continue to promote necessary reforms, which Japan will support.
In response, Secretary Siriwardana explained the implementation status of various reforms and debt restructuring, and expressed his gratitude for Japan’s contribution to the discussions on debt restructuring.
The two sides also exchanged views on Japan’s future economic cooperation with Sri Lanka, including the existing Yen loan projects, to stabilize and reinforce Sri Lanka’s economy as well as overcome its socioeconomic challenges.
DG Endo stated that Japan will continue to provide support to the people of Sri Lanka so that the country can fully recover from the economic crisis as soon as possible and make steady development.
Secretary Siriwardana meanwhile expressed his gratitude for the support from Japan for this purpose.
In November last year, a group of Sri Lanka’s creditor nations and Colombo reached an agreement in principle on debt restructuring.
Japan co-chairs this group, together with France and India, which comprises 14 nations.
According to Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry, the agreement in principle covered approximately US$ 5.9 billion of outstanding public debt and consisted of a mix of long-term maturity extension and reduction in interest rates. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka also has reached a deal with China to restructure its debt.
