Sri Lanka, March 6 -- At a time where it is repeatedly stressed that Sri Lanka needs to work closely with other nations, First lady Maithree Wickremesinghe called for diplomatic ties which would become connections of hearts, minds and souls.

Ms. Wickremesinghe highlighted this point at the swearing in of US Peace Corps volunteers in Colombo.

"The character of a nation consist not only of its geography and climate, origin, dominant culture, contemporary leaders in politics but also the caliber of its people and connections made by those people, the connections of the hearts, minds, souls especially in an era when connectivity and reality is valued at the expense of human contacts, what would be more real and tangible or human," she said....