The first-ever visit to New Zealand by a Sri Lankan Prime Minister comes in the middle of a dispute between the two countries over an elephant.
Prime Minister John Key announced this afternoon that his Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe will make an official visit this weekend.
Key was in Sri Lanka in February, when he was gifted a baby elephant by President Maithripala Sirisena.
The elephant, Nandi, was to be sent to Auckland Zoo but its move has been held up because of a legal challenge by animal rights activists, conservationists and Buddhist civil society groups in what could be a landmark case in Sri Lanka.
If the challenge by the activists is successful, it could end the country's practice of gifting elephants to dignitaries.