Visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan called for improved trade relations among South Asian countries during a visit to Sri Lanka on Wednesday, with the aim of alleviating poverty in the region.
"I am optimistic that sense will prevail, that the only way we in the subcontinent can get people out of poverty is improving trade relations," Khan said in an address to a joint Pakistani-Sri Lanka investment forum in Colombo.
During his two day visit to Sri Lanka, the Pakistani premier held meetings with President Gotabaya Rajpaksa and his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
A group of Muslim politicians also met Khan and called on him to ask the Sri Lankan government to allow the burial of Muslims whose deaths are caused by Covid-19.
The Sri Lankan government introduced a controversial regulation banning the burial of people who have died of Covid-19, saying that that the virus could spread by contaminating water ways.
