Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs Vijitha Herath met with Romania’s Minister of Economy, Digitization, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, Ambrose‑Irineu Darau, during his official visit to Romania.

At the meeting, Minister Herath noted that bilateral trade between Sri Lanka and Romania in 2025 amounted to only USD 42 million and emphasized the need to expand trade ties between the two countries.

“I informed Minister Darau that Sri Lanka recorded the highest tourist arrivals in 2025 and invited more Romanian tourists to visit Sri Lanka and also the Romanian investors to invest in Sri Lanka’s tourism sector,” Minister Herath said in a statement on ‘X’.

He further said that they also discussed potential collaboration in the field of digitization, identifying areas where Sri Lanka and Romania could strengthen cooperation.

Meanwhile, Minister Vijitha Herath marked his first official visit to Romania with high‑level talks aimed at strengthening bilateral ties as the two countries prepare to celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations in 2027.

Meeting with his Romainian Counterpart, Minister Herath discussed expanding cooperation in trade, the economy, digitization, and people‑to‑people engagement.

Minister Vijitha Herath also signed a landmark labour agreement to regularize the employment of over 25,000 Sri Lankan workers in Romania.

Addressing a joint media briefing in Romania, Minister Vijitha herath made the following statement;

Foreign Minister of Romania, today is special to me as my first official visit to Romania. As we mentioned, we are celebrating our 70 years of diplomatic relations next year. We have been continuing our bilateral relations since 1957. This is a great achievement for us. I met the Foreign Minister, and we discussed our bilateral relations, especially regarding the economic sector, trade sector and people-to-people engagements and how to develop them. It was a very successful discussion. And we have completed our 5th round table discussion of political consultations. We are going to start our next political consultations in mid-May this year. We have our mission in Romania, and Romania has its mission in Sri Lanka. Using our two missions, we can enhance our bilateral relations further. This morning, we signed an agreement with the Labour Ministry of Romania. Using that MoU, we can regulize the workers who are working here. There are about more than 25 000 Sri Lankan people working here. They are very interested in working in Romania. That’s why I came here and signed that MoU.

And also, we will expect to enhance our bilateral trade activities. We export cheap rubber, rubber products and some other items to Romania. And we import many electronic and electrical products from Romania. Our trade amount is about 42 million dollars, but we want to increase that amount. There are many opportunities in the trade sector. We are ready to export fruits, vegetables and beverage items to Romania. We will take necessary steps to enhance those activities.

Apart from that, the European Union has supported us a lot during the last two to three decades. Specifically, Sri Lanka obtained GSP+ concession in 2017, and we want to reapply for the GSP+ concession, which we finished at the end of this year. We have already discussed with the EU delegation. We are in the process of extending that period. It depends on the EU countries. So, we seek assistance from Romania to assist us as an EU country. Recently, we faced the Cyclone Ditwah situation, in which Romania has supported us a lot. Actually, all European countries have supported a lot. Thank you very much. Increasing our bilateral engagements, we think, and we hope that we can enhance our economic, trade, cultural and people-to-people engagements in the near future. This is a good opportunity. My visit is very important for that as well. And our meeting was also very successful.

Moreover, we think that we can enhance our bilateral relations further in the near future. And finally, I invite Romanian people to visit Sri Lanka as tourists. Last year, there were more than 6000 Romanian people who visited Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is a beautiful island. It’s a tourist destination. Many Europeans visit Sri Lanka. I again and again invite Romanian people to visit Sri Lanka.

And, there are more opportunities in Sri Lanka to invest. The political stability is there. The economic situation is growing. Therefore, we invite Romanian investors to come to Sri Lanka and start new investments. Finally, I thank her very much, Her Excellency the Foreign Minister and the government of Romania, on behalf of the Sri Lankan people. Thank you very much. Thank you again. (Newswire)

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