President of Egypt Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is seeking to further expand bilateral relations with Sri Lanka, says the Embassy of Egypt in Colombo.

He has extended best wishes and greetings to his Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the people of Sri Lanka for the New Year 2021 while reaffirming the cordial relationship that has always existed between the two nations.

In his message, President al-Sisi expressed his sincere hopes that the New Year will usher in a new chapter where the ambitions and aspirations of both countries come true “through harnessing our efforts to surmount the global challenges and realize a future that ensures growing peace and prosperity for all.”

He said: “As we bid farewell to this year and welcome, with optimism and hope, Christmas and the New Year 2021, it gives me pleasure to extend to Your Excellency and your people my warm greetings and heartfelt felicitations together with my best wishes. With this good occasion, I would like to express my sincere hope that the New Year will usher in a new chapter where our ambitions and aspirations come true through harnessing our efforts to surmount the global challenges and realize a future that ensures growing peace and prosperity for all.”

Egyptian President is hopeful that 2021 will witness further expansion of bilateral ties between the two nations “in the spirit of friendship and cooperation that has marked our relations for long decades to achieve the mutual benefit to our friendly peoples.”

Egypt was the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka in 1957 and currently bilateral relations are experiencing a surge across many fields as both countries are cooperating and working together to overcome the diverse challenges presented by the COVID-19 global pandemic.