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This Article is From Dec 18, 2018

US Eager To Work With Restored Sri Lankan Prime Minister

"Sri Lanka is a valued partner in the Indo-Pacific, and US looks forward to engage with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to advance cooperation on common interest," US State Department said.

US Eager To Work With Restored Sri Lankan Prime Minister
Mr Wickremesinghe's dismissal sparked an outcry at home and abroad. (File)
Washington:

The United States yesterday praised the restoration of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe -- controversially replaced by a former strongman in October -- and voiced eagerness to work with him.

"We are pleased that the leadership in Sri Lanka has resolved the political crisis of the past several weeks in accordance with constitutional norms and the rule of law," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said.

"Sri Lanka is a valued partner in the Indo-Pacific, and we look forward to engaging with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and his cabinet to advance cooperation on bilateral and regional issues of common interest," Mr Palladino said.

President Maithripala Sirisena in October abruptly sacked his onetime ally Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Mahinda Rajapaksa, a former strongman who had defiantly refused international calls for accountability over the bloody end of the decades-old Tamil Tiger insurgency.

Mr Wickremesinghe's dismissal sparked an outcry at home and abroad, with his allies saying that China -- which forged a close economic relationship with Mr Rajapakse -- was involved, a claim denied by China.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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