Sri Lanka’s Minister of Science, Technology and Research and Iran’s Vice-President for Science and Technology signed an MoU for cooperation on laboratory analysis for oil and gas, Iran's Mehr News Agency said.

In a meeting with Sorena Sattari in Tehran on Tuesday, Sri Lankan Minister Susil Premajayantha lauded Iran’s many scientific and technological achievements in spite of years of sanctions, adding “given Iran’s advances in the field of science and technology, there are various grounds for cooperation on conversion of raw materials by Sri Lanka and exporting them for creating added value for our country. This process requires using the advanced technologies of other countries such as Iran.”

According to Premajayantha, the two sides held negotiations on joint cooperation in various fields of nanotechnology, biotechnology, ICT and advanced materials. The Sri Lankan minister expressed hope that the talks would reach a positive result as soon as possible.

“We also discussed joint cooperation on equipping laboratory analysis for oil, gas and lubricants,” he added. “It was decided that the project would be implemented in Sri Lanka with cooperation and equipment supply from Iran.”

At the end of the meeting, Iran’s Vice-President for Science and Technology and Lanka’s Minister of Science, Technology and Research inked an agreement for expanding technological cooperation between the two countries.