Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa

High Commissioner of Malaysia to Colombo Tan Yang Thai paid a Courtesy Call on Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris at the Foreign Ministry on the 14 October 2021. While recalling the close and friendly bilateral ties between Sri Lanka and Malaysia, Foreign Minister and the High Commissioner discussed further avenues to enhance cooperation between the two countries in the post Covid -19 era.

Stating Sri Lanka was among the first to recognize Malaysia’s independence back in 1957, and the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2017, the High Commissioner expressed his strong desire to re-enact partnerships in several areas, including the restoration of the air connectivity to its fullest capacity and facilitate strong people to people interaction between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Peiris underlining strong bilateral partnership between the two countries emphasized the need of building further collaborations in the areas that are beneficial to both countries. Minister Peiris highly commended the enormous progress that Malaysia recorded in the field of digitalization. He identified digitalization as an area that the Government intends to achieve rapid progress over several key areas in the public sector including administration, court proceedings, education, health, etc. The Minister expressed Sri Lanka’s desire to look at the experiences of Malaysia in this field and adopt certain aspects as per the needs of the country.

During the discussion, Minister Peiris also praised the education system in Malaysia, where Malaysian Universities with the collaboration of reputed foreign Universities, offer diversified courses for students to continue their higher studies without migrating to foreign countries. Underlining the inadequacy of infrastructure in higher education and technical education, and the urgent need of broadening the vocational training in Sri Lanka, Minister Prof. Peiris identified this as an area of cooperation that both countries could progress.

Senior officials of the Foreign Ministry and the High Commission of Malaysia in Colombo were also present at the meeting.

Foreign Ministry

Colombo

15 October, 2021

(https://mfa.gov.lk/malaysia-sl/)

Sri Lanka held for the very first time Foreign Ministry Level Virtual Bilateral Consultations with the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria on 12 October 2021. Discussions focused on strengthening political, economic, social and cultural ties.

In keeping with the Government policy of further expanding ties with the African Region, closer engagement with Algeria which is the lead economy in North Africa is envisaged.

The two sides noted that the total trade last year stood USD 5.39 million and Sri Lanka’s exports to Algeria amounted to only USD 0.63 million while Sri Lanka’s imports from Algeria amounted to USD 4.76 million. As a major exporter of petroleum and LP gas, the trade relations with Algeria have mainly been in the energy sector. However, potential to further increase exports particularly tea, spices, coconut products and apparel were explored. A virtual meeting with the Chambers of Commerce of both countries is expected to take this process forward.

Recalling the long standing bilateral relations, the two sides agreed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations in a fitting manner next year. Algeria announced that it will host the next NAM Summit in Algiers in 2022 and recalled that both countries are founding members of the Non Aligned Movement and continue to work closely at the multilateral level.

The two countries expressed keen interest to focus bilateral cooperation in the environment and climate change, power & energy and tourism sectors. Further strengthening defence and counter terrorism cooperation were also discussed.

The Sri Lanka Delegation was led by Director General Africa Affairs Division of the Foreign Ministry B. Kandeepan and the Algeria delegation was led by Director General of the Asia Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Algeria Boumedien Guennad. The Ambassador of Sri Lanka accredited to Algeria from Cairo, the Ambassador of Algeria accredited to Sri Lanka from New Delhi and senior officials of both Foreign Ministries joined the virtual consultations.

Foreign Ministry

Colombo

14 October 2021

(https://mfa.gov.lk/sl-algeria/)

The Government of Sri Lanka has temporarily suspended all types of visa issuance to enter Sri Lanka for two weeks with immediate effect to nationals of most affected countries, including Canada.

All types of Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), Entry Visas, Landing Endorsements, Multiple Entry Visas and Residence Visas already granted to Canadian nationals will be temporarily suspended and they will not be allowed to enter Sri Lanka for two weeks with effect from 23.59hrs (local time in Sri Lanka) on 17 March 2020 to 24.00 hrs (local time in Sri Lanka) on 31 March 2020.

This restriction does not apply to Diplomatic, Official and Service Passport holders.

Sri Lanka High Commission

Ottawa

16.03.2020

Foreign Secretary Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage, delivering the country statement virtually at the Sixth Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Conference of Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), re-emphasized Sri Lanka’s continued engagement and close cooperation with the 27 - member regional body in achieving its goals for common benefit. The 6th CICA Ministerial meeting was held on the 12 October 2021 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan in a hybrid format.

Elaborating on the need for a collaborative approach to overcome the challenges posed by the Pandemic, Foreign Secretary Colombage also stressed Sri Lanka’s commitment to play a key role in the revival of the tourism Foreign Secretary in the CICA region. He also shared information regarding the success of the national vaccination drive and thanked the international partners for supporting Sri Lanka in various forms to fight the pandemic.

CICA is a multinational forum of twenty-seven Member States, formed for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security, and stability in Asia. Sri Lanka obtained full membership of the CICA in 2018 and currently serves as the co-coordinator for the confidence-building measures in Tourism.

Full statement delivered by Foreign Secretary Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage is given below:

Foreign Ministry

Colombo

13 October 2021

(https://mfa.gov.lk/cica-slfs/)