Singaporean Minister of Home Affairs and Law Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, who is on a three-day official visit to Sri Lanka, has called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

President and Minister Shanmugam broadly discussed a range of issues of importance to the two countries.

The discussions that took place at the Presidential Secretariat mainly focused on improving bilateral relations in areas of trade and investment.

They also spoke of regional concerns, especially in terms of countering terrorism, cybersecurity, curbing extremism, threats from foreign influences and interferences and improving intelligence.

President Rajapaksa and Minister Shanmugam have further discussed on the new legislation introduced by Singapore to address hate speech, online disinformation and the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act.

The talks also focused on Social Media Intelligence models that businesses are increasingly relying on for data management, which is crucial for business development, functioning and promotion. New technologies that Singapore is currently exploring in terms of Irrefutable Identification that combines both fields of digital and biometric also came up in the discussions, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said in a statement.

Following the conclusion of the cordial talks, President Rajapaksa hosted Minister Shanmugam for lunch at the President Secretariat, after which the Minister left for the Katunayaka International Airport.