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 Kerry arrived in the South Asian country earlier on Saturday, the
first time in a decade that a U.S. secretary of state has visited
Sri Lanka.
Washington had years of tensions over human rights with former
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was unseated by Mathripala Sirisena
in a surprise election win in January.
Sri Lanka had also tilted heavily towards China as Rajapaksa fell
out with the West over human rights and allegations of war crimes at
the end of the government's drawn-out conflict with Tamil
separatists, which ended in 2009.
Kerry said Washington wanted to work with Sirisena and lauded the
new government's efforts to tackle corruption, build democratic
institutions and address the wrongs of the past through a process of
national reconciliation.
"I am here today because I want to say to the people of Sri Lanka in
this journey to restore democracy the American people will stand
with you," Kerry said after meeting Sri Lanka Foreign Minister
Mangala Samaraweera.
"We intend to broaden and to deepen our partnership with you," Kerry
said while announcing the annual dialogue.
Samaraweera called Kerry's visit a "momentous occasion" and said it
"signified the return of our little island nation to the center
stage of international affairs".
Kerry has been credited in Sri Lanka for his role in pressing for
peaceful and inclusive elections, and for calling Rajapaksa on the
eve of voting to urge him to respect the outcome.
Kerry was due to meet Sirisena later on Saturday as well as Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Rajavarothayam Sampanthan, who
heads the main ethnic Tamil political party.
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He will also discuss U.S. interest in expanding trade and investment
with Sri Lanka, a senior State Department official said. Sri Lanka
exports roughly $2.5 billion in goods, mostly textiles, to the
United States a year.
The State Department official said Washington was "encouraged" by
the new government's cooperation with the United Nations over a U.N.
report on possible atrocities committed during the final stages of
the civil war.
The United Nations said Rajapaksa's government had failed to
properly investigate war crimes. In February, at the request of
Sirisena's government, the U.N. Human Rights Council agreed to delay
the release of the U.N. report until September.
Sirisena appears to be more willing to work with the United Nations
and his government has said it wants to conduct the war crimes
investigation with U.N. assistance.
"It's a real opening in terms of Sri Lanka's relations with the
international community and with the United Nations," the State
Department official said. "We'll have to see where this goes with
Sri Lanka and its dialogue with the U.N."
(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Paul Tait)
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