Colombo: A senior member of the foreign ministry said on Thursday that Sri Lanka was looking to investigate new areas of cooperation with Egypt as the nations sought to take their bilateral relations to "the next level."

The two countries held consultations last week in Colombo to lay the groundwork for reviewing current agreements and strengthening ties. The sessions were co-chaired by Egypt's Assistant Minister for Asian Affairs Ayman Kamel and Sri Lanka's State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya.

There are "many unexplored areas of cooperation" between the nations, and those that were discussed during the consultations included judicial and legal matters, maritime transport, youth and sports, defence, and collaboration in the apparel industry, according to Mohammed Jauhar, additional secretary for Africa at the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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If we can put the suggestions made at the recent bilateral talks in Colombo into practise, we could elevate our long-standing bilateral relationship between the two nations, he said.

"Relationships are to be improved across the board, including in the areas of economic and trade cooperation."

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Collaboration on international issues like climate change, food security, and debt restructuring has also been discussed between Egypt and Sri Lanka.

According to a statement from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Minister Balasuriya "emphasised the importance of deepening the engagement in political and economic cooperation as well as in the cultural sphere."

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Relations between the two countries were at their best in the 1950s and 1960s when both were active in the Non-Aligned Movement. Egypt was the first Arab country to establish an embassy in Sri Lanka, doing so in 1957.