Sri Lanka and Indonesia held the first round of formal political consultations between their foreign ministries in Colombo on Monday, September 22, opening with the signing of a memorandum of understanding that puts the dialogue on a standing footing.
The MoU establishes a framework for regular bilateral dialogue between the two foreign ministries, according to the government news portal news.lk. Until now the relationship has run without a scheduled ministry-to-ministry mechanism.
Who attended
The Sri Lankan delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Aruni Ranaraja. The Indonesian side was headed by Dr. Santo Darmosumarto, Deputy Minister for Asia-Pacific and African Affairs.
What was discussed
The two sides covered expanding trade and investment — with pharmaceuticals, minerals and textiles named specifically — alongside defence and maritime security, fisheries, agriculture, tourism, education and cultural cooperation.
Sri Lanka also used the round to seek Indonesian backing for two standing objectives: ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partnership status, and accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the 15-member trade bloc Colombo has been working toward for several years. Indonesia is the largest economy in ASEAN, which makes its support material rather than symbolic on both counts.
What happens next
Both sides agreed to run a programme of activities through 2027 to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations. The second round of political consultations is scheduled for Jakarta in 2028 — a two-year interval that suggests a deliberately unhurried cadence for a mechanism only just created.
The report did not say whether Indonesia gave any commitment on the ASEAN or RCEP requests, nor whether any figures or timelines were attached to the trade and investment discussion.
A note on sourcing: this account rests on the government’s own news portal. Ada Derana also reported the round, but its site is not retrievable to LankaNewz, so its report could not be verified or cited here. No other verified Sri Lankan newsroom appears to have published its own account.
