News

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya addresses the IPU Assembly in Geneva

Leading a high-level Sri Lankan Parliamentary delegation to the 135^th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) being held from 23-27 October 2016 in Geneva, Hon. Karu Jayasuriya, Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka addressed the General Debate this morning (25 October 2016). The theme of this year’s debate was ‘Human Rights abuses as precursors of conflict: Parliaments as early responders.’

Sri Lanka at the 39th Tri-annual Assembly of ICAO

IMG_0394-ICAO

The 39^th tri-annual Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was held in Montreal, Canada from 27^th September to 07^th October. The Sri Lankan delegation was led by Ahmed A. Jawad, Representative of Sri Lanka to the ICAO and High Commissioner to Canada. The ICAO is a UN specialized Agency established in 1944 to manage the administration and governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation also known as the Chicago Convention and comprises 191 member states. Sri Lanka became a member in 1948.

Sri Lanka’s participation in the 19th SAARC Summit scheduled for November 2016 in Islamabad

Sri Lanka regrets that the prevailing environment in the region is not conducive for holding the 19^th SAARC Summit in Islamabad on 9^th and 10^th November 2016.

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:

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.

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.

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 at Interactive Debate at Ministerial Meeting at XVII NAM Summit

NAM17

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.

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.

News

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya addresses the IPU Assembly in Geneva

Sri Lanka at the 39th Tri-annual Assembly of ICAO

Sri Lanka’s participation in the 19th SAARC Summit scheduled for November 2016 in Islamabad

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

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

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

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

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