Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa

Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s commitment to advance and broaden the scope of the bilateral engagement with Cyprus, when he met the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Christodoulides for discussions last week. This was the first official visit to Cyprus undertaken by a Sri Lankan Foreign Minister since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1963.

During the visit, he called on H.E. Nicos Anastasiades, President of the Republic of Cyprus, and met with the Minister of Labour, Welfare, and Social Insurance Zeta Emilianidou. Foreign Ministers Marapana and Christodoulides together, inaugurated the office of the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Nicosia at a formal ceremony on 28 February 2019.

The discussions between Minister Marapana and his Cypriot counterpart Christodoulides reviewed ongoing bilateral activities with a special focus on increasing cooperation in the labour, tourism, education and agriculture sectors, including SMEs development.  Foreign Minister Christodoulides assured Minister Marapana that the Government of Cyprus was ready to address and resolve key outstanding matters related to Sri Lankan workers employed in Cyprus. Both sides welcomed the proposal to convene political consultations in January 2020 to review progress in the agreed areas of enhanced cooperation.

Read more: Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana reaffirms commitment to consolidate the Sri Lanka –Cyprus bilateral engagement and officially inaugurates the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Nicosia

Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in Canada, M.A.K. Girihagama, handed over the Commission of Appointment issued by the Government and Sri Lanka and the Exequatur granted by Canada to three Honorary Consuls for Sri Lanka who were appointed in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at a ceremony held at the High Commission premises on 4^th March 2019.

The Honorary Consuls who received their documents are: Mr. Phil Roberts for Calgary, Alberta, Mr. Malcolm A.C. Pinto for Halifax, Nova Scotia and Dr. Sameera Jayasena for St. John, New Brunswick.

Read more: New Honorary Consuls for Sri Lanka appointed in Canada

The Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Toronto in co-ordination with the Toronto Police Cricket Club (TPCC) and the Sri Lanka Police Cricket Team arranged a Tour of Toronto Police Cricket Club to Sri Lanka for a friendly cricket encounter, which is scheduled be held from 18 to 27 February 2019 at Sri Lanka Police Cricket Grounds, Thimbirigasyaya. Six matches will be played between the two teams. The TPCC team consists of 14 members from the Toronto Police force.

The event is intended to bring together cricket loving communities from Sri Lanka and Canada. This is a valuable opportunity to foster a partnership with Toronto Police which may lead to training opportunities for Sri Lankan Police personnel in the future.

Mr. Mansoor Ahmed, President of the TPCC and Mr. Godwin Alfred, Captain of TPCC met with Sri Lanka's Consul General in Toronto Kapila Jayaweera on 15 February 2019 at the Consulate General before their departure to Sri Lanka.

Consulate General of Sri Lanka

Toronto

20 February 2019

Minister of Buddhasasana and Wayamba Development Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, designated as the Special Envoy of President Maithripala Sirisena, to gift a sapling of the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi Tree to Thailand, called on Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha on 18 February 2019 at the Government House in Bangkok. This sacred gifting is following an initiative of President Sirisena. The Minister having conveyed President Sirisena’s regrets on his inability to participate personally at the gifting ceremony of the sacred bo sapling, also outlined the advent of Buddhism in Sri Lanka 2600 years ago.

Prime Minister Chan-o-cha while warmly recalling his last official visit to Sri Lanka acknowledged its outcome as fruitful, and expressed thanks to President Sirisena for the Buddha statue gifted to Wat Dhammaram during his official visit to Thailand, enabling the exposition of the Mahiyangana sacred relics which were worshiped by 500,000 Thai people on that occasion and the present gifting of the sacred bo sapling of the Sri Maha Bodhi, which will be enshrined in Ayutthaya, and easily accessible to the Thai people. It may be recalled that when the foundation of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist monkhood eroded during the colonial period, it was the King of then Siam with the capital of the Kingdom being Ayutthaya, that re-established the higher ordination tradition by sending a delegation of monks from there.

Read more: Gifting of a sapling of the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi to Thailand

Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in Canada, M.A.K. Girihagama, presented his letter of appointment as the Representative of Sri Lanka to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, at a meeting with Secretary General Fang Liu on 19^th February 2019 in Montréal.

Following the presentation, High Commissioner Girihagama briefed Secretary General Liu on the proactive role played by Sri Lanka as a member state, the progress made and the measures that are underway in Sri Lanka to give effect to international conventions in the area of civil aviation to which Sri Lanka is a signatory.

The High Commissioner also apprised the Secretary General on the ICAO approved training programmes that Sri Lanka has planned to conduct in the months to come. He assured the Secretary General of Sri Lanka’s continued active participation in Regional Cooperative programmes which are conducted under the auspices of ICAO and added that Sri Lanka looks forward to further strengthening its ties with ICAO.

Secretary General Liu thanked the Government of Sri Lanka for its cooperation and assured the support of ICAO for programmes planned by Sri Lanka. Other areas of mutual interests were also discussed.

The ICAO is a UN specialized agency, established in 1944 to manage the administration and governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention). ICAO works with the Convention’s 192 Member States and industry groups to reach consensus on international civil aviation Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) and policies in support of a safe, efficient, secure, economically sustainable and environmentally responsible civil aviation sector.

 Sri Lanka High Commission

Ottawa

20^th February 2019

The Matara Regional Consular Office of the Foreign Ministry was declared open today (15) jointly by Minister of Foreign Affairs Tilak Marapana and Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera. Several members of the Southern Provincial Council, members of local government bodies of the Matara District and senior government officials including the District Secretary of Matara and Divisional Secretaries of the Southern Province attended the opening ceremony.

Following the ceremonial opening, documents attested by the Matara Regional Consular Office using the e-DAS system were handed over to their owners by the two Ministers, as the first consular service provided by the new office.

Addressing the gathering, Foreign Minister Marapana stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will take steps to open more regional offices in future particularly in the areas where a substantial number of families of migrant workers reside, enabling them to obtain consular services in their own districts, without travelling to Colombo. He appreciated the contribution of Minister Mangala Samaraweera as his predecessor towards taking the services of the Foreign Ministry to the people by first opening a Regional Consular Office in Jaffna.

With the opening of the Regional Consular Office, the general public is able to obtain consular services including attestation of birth, marriage and death certificates and other legal documents for their use abroad, assistance to family members of Sri Lankans stranded abroad, facilitation of redress and compensation claims of families of migrant workers and repatriation of human remains from abroad, among a range of services.

Minister Samaraweera thanked Minister Marapana for choosing Matara to open the Ministry’s second Regional Consular Office.

Earlier on, Acting Foreign Secretary, Ahmed A. Jawad, welcomed the Ministers, representatives of government agencies and the general public and thanked them for their support and presence. The Vote of Thanks was delivered by Director General Administration of the Ministry, Aruna Fernando.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Colombo

15 February 2019

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