'In crisis there's opportunity' - Blinken to Sri Lanka

STORY: The two men met on the sidelines of southeast Asia's ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh. Sabry who has been Sri Lanka's Finance Minister and Justice Minister before his most recent appointment expressed his gratitude for the support the United States has shown to the country.

Blinken said that there was "an opportunity to create a more inclusive, representative, democratic, responsive government.... and to use this crisis to seize that opportunity to make something very positive out of a very difficult situation."

The island nation of 22 million people is facing its worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948 with its foreign exchange reserves at record lows, and the economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic and a steep fall in government revenue.