Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa
Pledging Conference for the Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund New York, 21st September 2016
Friday, 23 September 2016 00:00
Sri Lanka co-hosted a Pledging Conference to Refinance the Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).held on 21st September 2016 at the UN Headquarters in New York on the sidelines of the 71st 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:
Address by President Maithripala Sirisena at the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly
Thursday, 22 September 2016 00:00
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.
Sri Lanka Statement by Special Envoy of President at XVII NAM Summit
Monday, 19 September 2016 00:00
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.
Read more: Sri Lanka Statement by Special Envoy of President at XVII NAM Summit
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera represents Sri Lanka at the Our Ocean Conference 2016
Saturday, 17 September 2016 00:00
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 at Interactive Debate at Ministerial Meeting at XVII NAM Summit
Friday, 16 September 2016 00:00
XVII Summit of the Heads of State and Government
of the Non- Aligned Movement
Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe
Minister of Skills Development & Vocational Training
Interactive Debate on
“Peace, Sovereignty and Solidarity for Development”
Her Excellency Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez, Minister of the Peoples’ Power for Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and
Chair of the Ministerial Meeting of the Non Aligned Movement,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to warmly congratulate you Madam Chair, on your assumption as Chair of the Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement and thank you, and through you, the Government of Venezuela for the excellent arrangements and hospitality extended to me and my delegation. Sri Lanka will continue to extend to extend its fullest cooperation in the conduct of the Movement’s programme of work.
Read more: Sri Lanka Statement at Interactive Debate at Ministerial Meeting at XVII NAM Summit
Special Envoy of President to lead Sri Lanka Delegation to 17th NAM Summit
Wednesday, 14 September 2016 00:00
Special Envoy of President Maithripala Sirisena, Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Skills Development and Vocational Training will lead the Sri Lanka delegation to the 17th 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.
Read more: Special Envoy of President to lead Sri Lanka Delegation to 17th NAM Summit
Statement by the Government of Sri Lanka regarding the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Wednesday, 14 September 2016 00:00
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 9th 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.
14th September 2016
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