CAIRO, July 27, 2018 (MENA) - Egyptian Tourism Minister Rania el Mashat had a meeting on Friday with Speaker of Sri Lankan Parliament Karu Jayasuriya and State Minister of Tourism Development Ranjith Aluwihare to discuss aspects of cooperation between Cairo and Colombo. The meeting was also attended by Sri Lankan Ambassador in Cairo Ramiah Yogarajan. It falls within the framework of the Sri Lankan delegation's current visit to Cairo that will last till Sunday, July 29. In a statement, the Tourism Ministry said that the meeting stressed the importance of the human factor in the tourism sector. In this context, Mashat said training and qualifying the staff of the tourism sector tops the ministry's agenda, as the ministry develops a comprehensive strategy to create well-qualified cadres able to improve the quality of the services provided to the tourists. Answering the delegation's question on the possibility of cooperation through the tourism training centers here, she stressed that these centers will be activated again in the coming period. The minister lauded the economic growth of Sri Lanka over the past period, adding that the Asian market is one of the emerging markets, which the ministry targets. "Egypt witnesses noticeable increase in the number of the Asian tourists who visited the country," she pointed out. Jayasuriya, for his part, expressed his country's interest in increasing the number of flights between the two countries. The visiting Sri Lankan delegation expressed keenness on boosting cooperation with Egypt in the field of hotels management and exchanging expertise in tourism promotion and marketing.
