Colombo, Jan 22 (IANS): Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa and visiting Maldives President Abdullah Yameen have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields, including trade, banking and finance, fisheries, agriculture, education, defence and maritime, here Wednesday, the President's office said in a statement.

The two leaders, after identifying the areas of cooperation at the bilateral talks, advised the Joint Economic Commission to take follow-up action on all areas of cooperation, Xinhua reported citing the statement.

Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris, Senior Minister A.H.M. Fowzie, Economic Affairs Minister Basil Rajapaksa and several other cabinet ministers and secretaries to the ministries were in the Sri Lankan team for the bilateral discussions.

The Maldivian President commended President Rajapaksa for establishing peace and stability in the country and taking Sri Lanka towards rapid prosperity and assured his country's support at every juncture as a good friendly neighbour and a well-wisher.

President Rajapaksa thanked the Maldivian president and assured support for the development programmes of the Maldives.

He agreed to provide more placements for Maldivian students in Sri Lankan universities and offered training facilities in professional training institutions and defence training centres.

Yameen agreed to explore the possibility of giving "innocent passage" to Sri Lankan fishing vessels on international waters through Maldivian waters under the UN Law of the Sea.

This was requested by Sri Lanka's Fisheries Minister Rajitah Senaratne during the talks.

Senaratne also urged the Maldivian side to purchase boats from Sri Lanka as the boat industry in his country has made rapid progress.

The two countries agreed to look after the well being of citizens of one country employed in the other. There are 9,000 Maldivians living in Sri Lanka and 10,000 Sri Lankans employed in the Maldives.

The two sides also agreed to expedite exchange of prisoners and explore the possibility of removing travel visa requirement.

The Joint Economic Commission will also take up the proposal for double taxation agreement, finance and remittance agreement and expansion of maritime agreement with Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India.

The Maldivian president also extended an invitation to his Sri Lankan counterpart to visit his country, which the latter accepted.

Yameen will wrap up his visit Thursday.