COLOMBO ; Ambassador M. Ashraf Haidari called on Sri Lankan Minister of Justice Ali Sabry last Friday to discuss the status of mutual legal assistance cooperation between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The Ambassador briefed the Minister on the bilateral initiative to sign a Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement, which the legal delegations of the two sides met to negotiate last February in Colombo.
After two-days of constructive and comprehensive negotiation of the draft Agreement last February, both sides initialed the final draft for the consideration of the two sides’ higher authorities to approve for bilateral signature. The initialed Agreement, which should be signed by both sides soon, would help facilitate mutual legal assistance cooperation, especially during the global COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on foreign inmates and their vulnerability to contracting the virus in the infected prisons.
Ambassador Haidari recalled with appreciation the cooperation of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Justice in case of a former Afghan inmate in Colombo, who had been sick and received adequate medical attention from the prison’s authorities. Minister Ali Sabry reaffirmed his Ministry’s commitment to the continuation and further strengthening of mutual legal assistance cooperation, in light of the fast-growing Afghanistan-Sri Lanka relations, which enjoy the unreserved attention and support of the two countries’ leaderships.
Ambassador Haidari thanked the Minister and presented him the Afghanistan-Sri Lanka Friendship Plaque.
