US State Secretary John Kerry made the first visit to Sri Lanka by a US secretary of state in a decade on Saturday, championing the new government's fresh effort at democratic reform and promising to deepen ties with a country that sits at a strategic crossroads in the vast Indian Ocean, according to ABC News.

The top diplomat arrived early Saturday in Colombo and met with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera. He then met President Maithripala Sirisena.