Oct 11, Colombo: A top ranking United States official will visit Colombo next month to take part in the next round of the U.S. - Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue, inaugurated last year.

U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Ambassador Thomas Shannon will visit Sri Lanka in November 2017 for a regular policy consultation designed to discuss and identify opportunities for cooperation across the full range of bilateral and regional issues, Sri Lanka's Finance Ministry said.

The U.S. - Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue was inaugurated in 2016 when Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera was the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Minister Mangala Samaraweera who is currently in Washington to attend the World Bank/IMF annual meeting met with Ambassador Shannon at the US State Department in Washington on Tuesday.

"The Partnership Dialogue demonstrates the consolidation of cooperation between the United States and Sri Lanka and serves to further strengthen and enhance bilateral relations in the widest sense, through regular and structured engagement," the Ministry said in a statement.

Minister Samaraweera was accompanied by Mano Tittawella, Senior Adviser to the Minister of Finance, Gamini B. Keerawella, Charge d’ Affaires of the Sri Lanka Embassy in U.S. and Priyanga Wickramasinghe of the Sri Lankan Embassy in U.S.