Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will begin a two-day visit to Malaysia aimed at promoting investment and trade between the two countries, a diplomatic official said today.

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Malaysia Rosy Senanayake said Wickremesinghe would meet Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and leading Malaysian investors and businessmen during the visit.

He will also meet Defence Minister Najib Razak, Works Minister Samy Vellu and Science, Technology and Environment minister Law Hieng Ding, Senanayake said in a statement to the Bernama news agency.

Among top investors

Over the past few years Malaysians have been among the top investors in Sri Lanka, in part due to the ongoing ceasefire and peace talks to end the decades- old ethnic conflict between the island's government and Tamil rebels.

The statement said an agreement would be signed during the visit on the construction of Sri Lanka's first toll highway linking Colombo and Kandy. - AFP