Media Centre

News

Address by President Maithripala Sirisena at the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly

President-UNGA

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනාධිපති අතිගරු මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මැතිතුමන් විසින් එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මහා මණ්ඩලයේ 71 වැනි සැසිවාරය අමතා කරන ලද කථාව

2016 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 21 වැනිදා - නිව්යෝර්ක්

සුබ සන්ධ්‍යාවක් !

ඔබ සියලු දෙනාටම තෙරුවන් සරණයි!

ආයුබෝවන්!

වනක්කම් !

අස්ලාම් අලෙයිකුම්!

එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ 71 වැනි සමුළුවට, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා විදිහට සහභාගී වීමට ලැබීම මා ඉතාමත්ම සතුටට පත්වෙන අවස්ථාවක්. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නව පරිවර්තනීය යුගයක් ආරම්භ කරමින් ගෙවීගිය මාස විස්සක පමණ කාල සීමාව, අවශ්‍ය දේශපාලන, ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ සඳහා අපි මූලිකත්වය දී තිබෙනවා. විශේෂයෙන්ම, මගේ රජය බලයට පත්වීමට පෙර, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ තිබූ බියෙන් සහ සැකයෙන් ජීවත්වීමේ සමාජ පසුබිම ඉවත් කරමින්, සතුටින්, නිදහසේ, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී සමාජයක ජීවත්වන ජනතාවක් සඳහා අවශ්‍ය මූලික පදනම සකස් කරමින්, ඒ කටයුතු ශක්තිමත් කර තිබෙනවා. මගේ රජයේ අරමුණ, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජීවත්වන සියලු ජනතාව, ලෝකයේ ඉතාමත්ම සතුටින් ජීවත්වන රටවල් අතරින් එක් රටක් බවට පත් කිරීමයි. ඒ නිසා නිදහස් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය තහවුරු කිරීමත්, ආර්ථික සමෘද්ධිය ඇති කිරීමත් තුළ, ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් ලෝකයේ ශක්තිමත් ප්‍රබුද්ධ ජනතාවක් බවට පත් කිරීම මගේ රජයේ ප්‍රධාන අරමුණක් සහ අභිප්‍රායක්. ඒ වගේම දුගී භාවය අද මුලු ලෝකය පුරාම තිබෙන බරපතල අභියෝගයක් බැවින් 2017 ලබන වර්ෂය, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දුගීභාවයෙන් නිදහස් වීමේ වර්ෂය ලෙස නම් කර තිබෙනවා. ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනය මුල් කරගත් රටක, ජනතාවගේ සියලු ප්‍රශ්න විසඳීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය මූලික පහසුකම් සකස් කිරීමේ කාර්යයට, ඒ අනුව මා ප්‍රමුඛත්වය දී තිබෙනවා.

Pledging Conference for the Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund New York, 21st September 2016

Peace_Building_Conference

Sri Lanka co-hosted a Pledging Conference to Refinance the Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).held on 21^st September 2016 at the UN Headquarters in New York on the sidelines of the 71^st sessions of the United Nations General Assembly. Sri Lanka together with Kenya, Mexico, The Netherlands, Somalia, Sweden, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom co- hosted the event. The conference was able to generate pledges from thirty countries amounting to a sum of US Dollars 152 million to support UN peacebuilding efforts across the globe. Foreign Minister Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, chaired one segement of the conference and delivered closing remarks on behalf of the co hosts. In his national statement delivered at the conference Hon. Mangala Samaraweera said that since the creation of the Fund in 2006, it had come to the assistance of many countries emerging from conflict. Sri Lanka, he noted, has been working closely with the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) since the Presidential Elections of January 2015, when the Government prioritized reconciliation and development as twin agendas to be pursued in guiding the nation towards durable peace. He pointed out that last year, Sri Lanka was declared by the UN Secretary-General as a country eligible to receive support from the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. In his closing remarks on behalf of the co hosts, Minister Samaraweera said that due to the cooperation of member states, the Fund will be able to continue to support critical projects in countries emerging from years of violent conflict, like Colombia, and in other countries where peace is fragile and needs to be sustained, such as in Mali, Somalia and Sri Lanka. “We are also emboldened by the fact that so many of you pledged, making the Peacebuilding Fund one of the most broadly supported funds in the UN system, “ the Minister further said.

The full text of the Statement made by Minister Samaraweera is follows:

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera represents Sri Lanka at the Our Ocean Conference 2016

Ocean-FMSL

Participating at the Our Ocean Conference 2016, at the invitation of the US Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, on 15 September, outlined several commitments by Sri Lanka to protect oceans around Sri Lanka and beyond.

Sri Lanka Statement by Special Envoy of President at XVII NAM Summit

NAMD2

XVII Summit of the Heads of State and Government

of the Non Aligned Movement

Statement by Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe

Minister of Skills Development and Vocational Training &

Special Envoy of President Maithripala Sirisena

Margarita Island, Venezuela. 18 September 2016

Your Excellency Nicolás Maduro Moros, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me take this opportunity, on behalf of President Maithripala Sirisena and the people of Sri Lanka, to extend my warm felicitations to Your Excellency on your election as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement. It is my firm belief that under your able stewardship our Movement will be further strengthened in the years ahead.

Statement by the Government of Sri Lanka regarding the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

The Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka condemns the nuclear test carried out by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on 9^th September 2016. Sri Lanka notes with concern that this is the second such test to be carried out by the DPRK this year.

Sri Lanka calls upon the DPRK to abide by its international obligations and refrain from any action which would compromise peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Colombo.

14^th September 2016

Special Envoy of President to lead Sri Lanka Delegation to 17th NAM Summit

Special Envoy of President Maithripala Sirisena, Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Skills Development and Vocational Training will lead the Sri Lanka delegation to the 17^th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) being held from 13-18 September in Margarita Island, Venezuela. In addition to the Summit, Minister Samarasinghe will also represent Sri Lanka at the Ministerial segment to be held from 15-16 September 2016. The Sri Lanka Ambassador to Venezuela, resident in Havana and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs participated at the preceding Senior Officials Meeting from 13-14 September 2016.

Secretary-General’s remarks at event in Sri Lanka on SDG16: Sustaining Peace – Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

It is an honour to be here today to talk about the links between peace and sustainable development.

This is my first visit to Sri Lanka since 2009, when I saw great suffering and hardship. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and in need of humanitarian aid after the terrible conflict that tore the country apart.

I called for fast reconciliation and action to build peace, in the knowledge that conflict can recur in fragile post-war societies.

Today, the picture is very different. I congratulate the Government and people of Sri Lanka for the progress you have made.&ampampampnbsp There remains much hard work ahead, but you have moved with determination along a new path with great promise for all the country’s people.

Introductory Remarks by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera to Address by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

FM-UNSG

Introductory Remarks by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, MP.

to Address by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon organized by

the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute

Colombo, 1 September 2016

Introductory Remarks by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Memorial Lecture 2016

FM-LK-2_1

Introductory Remarks by Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Foreign Affairs & Chairman

of the Board of Management of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations

and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS)

Lakshman Kadirgamar Memorial Lecture – 2016

Colombo, 12 August 2016

It is indeed a great pleasure to welcome a very special guest, Hon. Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway to the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies today to deliver the annual Lakshman Kadirgamar memorial lecture, on the very day Sri Lanka lost one of its finest sons to a sniper’s bullet 11 years ago.