Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse departed Thursday for Jordan to attend the G11 summit and the World Economic Forum (WEF) for the Middle East, said the presidential office.

The president is also due to visit Kuwait in his six-day overseas visit, said the office.

The World Economic Forum for the Middle East will be held in Jordan on May 18-20 in the presence of world and Arab politicians.

The summit of the Gll -- Croatia, Ecuador, Georgia, Honduras, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay, Sri Lanka and Tunisia -- is planned for May 19 on the sidelines of the WEF meeting.

Jordan's King Abdullah II announced the establishment of the G11 in New York last September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

The group aims to ease their debt burden, narrow the income gap with rich countries and lift millions of people out of poverty.

Source: Xinhua