Summary Kerry's one-day visit will enable the top US diplomat to give seal of approval to change of regime.
COLOMBO (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry headed for talks with Sri Lanka s new President Maithripala Sirisena Saturday on a visit that caps the island s transformation from diplomatic pariah to a "beacon of democracy".
The top US diplomat was received at the Colombo airport by his counterpart Mangala Samaraweera and the two men are due to make a joint press statement before talks with Sirisena.
Kerry s one-day visit will enable the top US diplomat to give the seal of approval to the change of regime after Sirisena ousted the hard-line incumbent Mahinda Rajapakse in January s presidential polls.
During Rajapakse s rule, Washington was close to slapping sanctions on Colombo for refusing to allow investigations into claims of mass killings and rights abuses at the end of Sri Lanka s Tamil separatist war.
As Sri Lanka s relations with the West and regional powerhouse India declined, Rajapakse turned increasingly to Beijing with Chinese-funded investments projects springing up across Sri Lanka.
Since coming to power, Sirisena has tried to reset the diplomatic balance, choosing New Delhi for his first foreign visit and offering the hand of friendship to other key players who fell out with his predecessor.
Political analyst Victor Ivan said Sirisena realised it was vital for Sri Lanka to have better relations with the West as it had become dangerously dependent on China -- both for loans and diplomatic cover.
"Mahinda thought he could depend on China and China alone," Ivan, an editor at the Ravaya weekly newspaper told AFP. "That was a big mistake."
A senior State Department official said there had already been a change in the "tenor and tone" of Sri Lanka s dealings with the United Nations, which initiated its own investigation into war crimes last year after Rajapakse refused a domestic inquiry.
"We can foresee a future where we have a very good and mutually helpful relationship with a country that can be kind of a real beacon of democracy," he added on condition of anonymity.
Peaceful handover
Kerry was instrumental in persuading Rajapakse to accept the results of the January 8 election that brought an end to a nine-year rule marred by rampant nepotism and corruption allegations.
Amid rumours Rajapakse might try to cling to power by force, Kerry spoke to him at the time to press what he called "the importance of maintaining a peaceful process no matter what".
Kerry afterwards hailed the "peaceful change of power" in Sri Lanka, mindful of the contested outcome of several recent elections in South Asia.
Sri Lankan officials say Kerry s visit, the first by a secretary of state in a decade, is a chance to build up trade and investments. The US is already the largest single market for the island s clothes exports.
Foreign Minister Samaraweera, who recently met Kerry in Washington, says there is enormous US goodwill towards the new government.
"Sri Lanka is keen to build upon this manifest goodwill," he said.
As well as meeting Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Kerry will deliver a speech on reconciliation in a country where at least 100,000 people died during a 37-year ethnic conflict that ended in 2009.
He will meet the leaders of the main Tamil political group, the Tamil National Alliance, on Sunday morning before flying to the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
