Ambassador Thomas Shannon today said that the US-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue which is to be held next year will focus on four main pillars of discussion.

Speaking at the Lakshman Kadirgarmar Institute today, Shannon said that Governance, development cooperation, and people-to-people ties, including steps on justice and reconciliation to educational exchanges was the first of the four pillars.

The second pillar will be Economic cooperation, including topics like women’s empowerment, investment climate, and clean energy, he said.

Security cooperation, in particular peacekeeping and security-sector reform to support SriLanka’s military preparedness to challenges would be the third pillar and International and regional affairs, including efforts to combat climate change and ensure maritime security is to be the fourth pillar.

The US-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue is expected to take place in February next year.