Sri Lanka gifts five eye corneas to Pakistan

Islamabad: Sri Lanka's foreign secretary Aruni Wijewardane has presented five eye corneas to her Pakistani counterpart Syrus Sajjad Qazi as a gift for Pakistani patients.

She said Pakistan had been the largest recipient of eye corneas from Sri Lanka, having received more than 35,000 corneas over the years. This represents about 40 per cent of Sri Lanka's total cornea donations to Pakistan, according to her.

Syrus Sajjad welcomed donations saying they'll provide both eyesight and hope to recipients. During talks, the two sides decided to explore new opportunities for cooperation in the fields of trade, economic cooperation, agriculture, defence and security, education, parliamentary exchanges, culture, media, sports, cooperation at multilateral forums, and consular matters. The political and security dynamics in South Asia and its neighbouring regions were also discussed.

Both sides expressed satisfaction over the positive trajectory of bilateral relations and reaffirmed the resolve to further strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation. It was agreed to enhance bilateral dialogue and exchanges and to stren­gthen the dialogue mechanisms. Both sides also noted with appreciation that Pakistan and Sri Lanka had unanimity of views on several global issues.