BAKU — Sri Lanka’s foreign minister thanked Azerbaijan on Wednesday for humanitarian assistance during “recent natural disasters,” according to the Azerbaijani presidency’s account of his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev. The account does not say which disasters, what was sent or when.
Vijitha Herath, Sri Lanka’s minister of foreign affairs, foreign employment and tourism, was in Baku for the Baku CICA summit. He thanked Aliyev for the invitation, congratulated him on hosting the event and on Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, and said he expected the summit to widen cooperation among members. Aliyev thanked member states, Sri Lanka among them, for supporting the chairmanship, which he said reflected respect and trust in Azerbaijan.
The aid is the only concrete item in a readout otherwise built from intentions. The two sides highlighted cooperation at the United Nations, in the Non-Aligned Movement and in CICA, and exchanged views on expanding economic, trade and tourism ties “in line with the level of political relations.” They noted that Sri Lankan students are studying in Azerbaijan and discussed cooperation in education. No figure for trade, tourism or student numbers appears.
One major recent disaster in Sri Lanka was Cyclone Ditwah in late 2025. A December 2, 2025 roundup by the President’s Office of foreign support after the storm, which it said displaced hundreds of thousands of people, names India, the United States and others, but not Azerbaijan. That does not show no aid came: the roundup was an early snapshot, and the readout never says Ditwah is what Herath meant. TEH found no public record of what Azerbaijan sent.
Aliyev said the visit was a good chance to discuss Azerbaijan-Sri Lanka relations, according to the presidency’s account, which records no agreement signed and no visit planned.
Whether the thanks refers to a shipment, a cash donation or a team on the ground is a detail only one of the two governments can supply.
