Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa

Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris has highlighted the importance Sri Lanka attaches to strengthening relations with Bangladesh especially economic cooperation.  The Minister made this observation during a courtesy call by the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Sri Lanka Mr. Tareq Md. Ariful Islam at the Foreign Ministry  on 07 October.

The Minister, while recalling the strong relations between the two countries thanked the Government of Bangladesh for the continued support and cooperation extended to Sri Lanka in multilateral fora, particularly at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The Minister also discussed a wide range of bilateral matters with High Commissioner Ariful Islam including joint tourism ventures, sharing intelligence in combating and countering terrorism and expansion of trade within the region.

Considering the vast potential of trade in the South Asian region, Foreign Minister Peiris highlighted the need for both countries to work in close collaboration to reap the benefits of international and regional trade pacts, especially in the apparel sector, as Bangladesh is one of the top manufacturers of high quality garments.

The Bangladesh High Commissioner emphasized the importance of enhancing shipping cooperation between the two countries and the early conclusion of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), as tangible measures to boost bilateral trade relations in the years ahead.

The celebration of the 50th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh next year was also discussed during the meeting.

Foreign Ministry

Colombo

08 October 2021

(https://mfa.gov.lk/fm-sl-bangladesh/)

43^rd Session of the Human Rights Council – High Level Segment

Statement by Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena, Minister of Foreign Relations of

Sri Lanka

26 February 2020

Madam President

Madam High Commissioner

Ladies and gentlemen,

As this Council is aware, in November 2019, the people of Sri Lanka gave a resounding mandate to President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, to pursue a policy framework aimed at achieving the “four-fold outcome of a productive citizenry; a contented family, a disciplined, a just society and a prosperous nation”^[1]. It is envisaged to achieve sustainable development and peace in the country, firmly anchored in safeguarding “national security without compromising the democratic space available to our people”[2].

It was over a decade ago, on 18 May 2009, that Sri Lanka defeated LTTE terrorism militarily, bringing to an end three decades of conflict and suffering. The end of the brutal conflict advanced, secured and protected one of the fundamental human rights - the ‘right to life’ for all Sri Lankans- Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslims and others. I would like to state with pride that since May 2009, not a bullet has been fired in the name of separatist terrorism in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka never had any illusion that the end of the conflict against the LTTE terrorists, will overnight convert to a lasting peace. Although Sri Lanka was not a case of nation building, like many conflict situations that this Council is dealing with, we were mindful that Sri Lanka needed certain reviews and strengthening of existing structures, as part of a sustainable peace and reconciliation programme.

The government led by the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa, of which the current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, initiated a sustainable reconciliation process in Sri Lanka to bring about ‘healing and peace building’, taking due cognizance of the ground realities at that time. This was viewed as an incremental and inclusive process, as it had taken even better-resourced countries several decades to address and achieve.

Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris co-chaired a meeting with the Minister of Youth & Sports, Minister of Development Co-ordination and Monitoring & State Minister of Digital Technology and Enterprise Development Namal Rajapaksa, at the Foreign Ministry on 06 October 2021. State Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Market Diversification Piyankara Jayaratne and State Minister of State Minister of Ornamental Fish, Inland Fish & Prawn Farming, Fishery Harbour Development, Multi day Fishing Activities and Fish Exports Kanchana Wijesekera participated in the meeting.

At the outset, Foreign Minister Peiris emphasized the urgent need to enhance the current level of digitalization of consular services at the Ministry in order to facilitate expeditious delivery of services to the public.. Minister Namal Rajapaksa outlined the government’s digitalization National Plan and stated that the government intended to issue by 2023, a digital national identity number with biometrics.  This digital identity number would be specific to every citizen and would be applicable from the birth certificate to the death certificate and connected to different areas of a citizen's activity such as, among others, the bank account, tax file, insurance, passport and school admission. Therefore, Minister Namal Rajapaksa stated it was imperative that supporting institutions are also digitalized and on a par with this process.

Given that a large number of the Sri Lankan public avail themselves of the consular services of the Foreign Ministry, it was agreed that the current Electronic Document Attestation System (e-DAS), used by the Consular Division of the Foreign Ministry needed to be urgently upgraded, or a new system introduced. The aim would be to digitally integrate the Consular Division with other institutions such as the Police Department, Registrar General’s Department and the Department of Examinations, to facilitate foreign employment through SLBFE and its agents.

Chairman, Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) Oshada Senanayake stated that this issue needed to be approached in a holistic manner and solutions mapped from a citizen’s point of view taking into consideration that a large number of service seekers come from rural areas. Therefore, there was an imperative need to avoid the physical presence of the service seekers as much as possible. The ways and means to operationalize a single payment gateway was also discussed. It was decided to appoint an inter-agency committee to develop a modus operandi to implement this process by the second quarter of next year.

Senior officials of the Foreign Ministry, Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment and the ICTA took part in the discussion.

Foreign Ministry

Colombo

08 October 2021

(https://mfa.gov.lk/fm-upgrading-digitalization/)

Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardenatoday (16 February 2020) formally conveyed to the US Ambassador AlainaTeplitzSri Lanka’s strong objections on the imposition of travel restrictions by the Government of the United States of America on Lt. Gen.Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Army and Actg. Chief of Defence Staff, as well as his immediate family. Earlier on Friday (14 February 2020), the Foreign Ministry had issued the Government of Sri Lanka’s immediate reaction following the announcement by the US Secretary of State.

During his discussion, the Minister reiterated that Lt. Gen. Silva was appointed as the Commander of the Army by the then Head of State, taking into account his seniority and that there were no substantiated or proven allegations of human rights violations against him. His elevation as the Actg. Chief of Defence Staff by the current Head of State President GotabayaRajapaksa was on account of his being the senior most serving military officer.

Noting that Lt. Gen. Silva was one of the senior military officials who contributed significantly to liberate Sri Lanka from terrorism over a decade ago, the Minister said it is disappointing that a foreign government should question the prerogative of a democratically elected President to call upon persons of proven expertise to hold key positions on national security related matters. The Minister said this action unnecessarily complicates the US-Sri Lanka relationship.

On coming to learn that the designation was not based on independently verified information, but on the much disputed OISL Report of 2015, the Minister requested the United States to verify the authenticity of the sources of information. It was recalled that this report made clear that it was “a human rights investigation and not a a criminal investigation”, and that “the names provided in the description of the chain of command do not imply criminal responsibility for those particularly alleged violations listed in this report, either as direct responsibility or under command or superior responsibility. Individual criminal responsibility can only be determined by a Court of Law with all necessary due process guaranteed.”

Foreign Relations Minister asked that the United States Government review its decision.

Ambassador Teplitz Informed that she would convey the concerns of the Government of Sri Lanka to Washington DC, and reiterated the continued commitment of the US Government to all aspects of ongoing collaboration with Sri Lanka and to ensure its expansion, including in the field of defence.

Foreign Secretary RavinathaAryasinha, Director General/ North America, Dharshana M. Perera, and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Relations were associated with the Minister at the meeting. Mr. Martin Kelly, Deputy Head of Mission accompanied the US Ambassador to the meeting.

Ministry of Foreign Relations

16 February 2020