Sri Lanka president to arrive in Philippines next week for state visit

MANILA, Philippines — Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will be in the Philippines for a five-day state visit next week following an invitation from President Rodrigo Duterte.

Sirisena will be in the country from January 15 to 19 this year, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Thursday.

He is set to meet with Duterte on the second day of his state visit on January 16 to hold bilateral discussions on areas of mutual interest. The two leaders are set to talk about political, economic, cultural and people-to-people engagement.

Sirisena is also scheduled to visit the Asian Development Bank, whose headquarters is in Mandaluyong City, and the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, Laguna.

His visit is the first by a Sri Lankan president serving both as head of state and government under the country's 1978 Constitution. Meanwhile, it is the second visit by a Sri Lankan leader since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1961.