Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa

Your Excellency, Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Foreign Minister of Nepal & Chair of the BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting

Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

At the outset, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to the Foreign Minister and the Government of Nepal for the warm welcome and gracious hospitality extended to me and my delegation since our arrival in the Himalayan city of Kathmandu.  I also wish to congratulate our host nation on the excellent arrangements made to ensure that this Ministerial Meeting and Summit is a resounding success.

Permit me, to felicitate you Mr Chairman for efficiently guiding BIMSTEC since assuming the Chair.  I am confident, that under your able guidance we will have a fruitful meeting. I also wish to appreciate the work of the Senior Officials for drafting an ambitious declaration, which Sri Lanka, as the next Chair looks forward to operationalise.

I am pleased to acknowledge that BIMSTEC has made significant strides in increasing cooperation among nations in the Bay of Bengal region. The key characteristic of our Organization has been the existing together of the ‘Look West’ policy of the ASEAN nations and the ‘Look East’ policy of their South Asian counterparts, thereby bridging two of the most dynamic regions in the world.  I see a considerable number of complementarities in our economies and numerous opportunities for cooperation.

President Maithripala Sirisena will lead the Sri Lanka Delegation to the 4^th Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), which will be held from 30-31 August 2018 in Kathmandu.  At the conclusion of the Summit, the Chairmanship of BIMSTEC will be handed over to Sri Lanka by the current Chair, Nepal.

The Summit, which also includes a retreat of the participating Heads of State and Government will be preceded by the Sixteenth BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting and the Nineteenth Session of the BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting.

The Presidents of Sri Lanka and Myanmar, the Prime Ministers of India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Thailand, and the Chief Advisor of the Government of Bhutan will be leading their respective delegations to the Summit. The leaders are to adopt the 4^th BIMSTEC Summit Declaration: "Towards a Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region" on 31 August at the conclusion of the Summit.

The leaders will also witness the signing of the " Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the BIMSTEC Grid Inter-Connection" at the Summit.

During the preceding meetings, several initiatives under agreed priority sectors will be reviewed with a view to enhancing inclusive growth and economic prosperity in the BIMSTEC region.   The priority sectors of cooperation in BIMSTEC include, Trade and Investment, Technology, Energy, Transportation & Communication, Tourism, Fisheries, Agriculture, Cultural Cooperation, Environment & Disaster Management, Public Health, People to People Contact, Poverty Alleviation, Counter-Terrorism & Transnational Crimes, and Climate Change.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), launched in 1997, bridges countries of South and South East Asia in the Bay of Bengal region. The Bay of Bengal region is home to 21 %  of the global population with an average GDP growth of 6.5%.

Sri Lanka is the lead country for the Technology sector, where the establishment of a BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility (TTF) in Sri Lanka is under consideration. This Facility seeks to expand the technology base of Member States through collaboration and partnerships targeted towards micro, small and medium scale enterprises.

The 3^rd BIMSTEC Summit was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar in 2014, and a BIMSTEC leaders' retreat and the BRICS & BIMSTEC outreach Summit was held in Goa, India in 2016.

State Minister of Foreign Affairs Vasantha Senanayake, and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Kathmandu will also participate in Summit related meetings.

During his stay in Nepal, President Maithripala Sirisena will be meeting his Nepali counterpart President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and the Prime Minister of Nepal Khadga Prasad Oli on 01 September. The President will also attend a Banquet hosted by the President of Nepal in his honour.

President Sirisena will be visiting Lumbini on 01 September, and on 02 September, he is scheduled to visit the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu and attend a tree planting ceremony there.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Colombo

 28 August 2018

Text in Sinhala (PDF)

Text in Tamil (PDF)

As part of Sri Lanka’s 70^th Anniversary of Independence celebrations, the Canada-Sri Lanka Friendship Cricket Cup (CSLFCC), jointly organized by the Sri Lanka Consulate General in Toronto and the Ontario Cricket Development Organization (OCDO), was launched on 11 August 2018 at the Courtney Park Sports Complex in Mississauga. The annual event is intended to bring together cricket loving communities from Sri Lanka and other countries. The agreement to hold this annual event was arrived at a meeting attended by Mayor of Mississauga, Bonnie Crombie, Consul General of Sri Lanka in Toronto, U. L. Mohammed Jauhar, and Messrs. Derek Perera and Ranil Mendis, held on 01 May 2018 at the Mississauga Civic Centre.

Welcoming the initiative of the Consulate General and the OCDO, the Mississauga Mayor said: "Our residents love cricket! Mississauga proudly operates seven cricket pitches across the City, and the popularity of this sport only continues to grow amongst our residents. We are pleased to support the Consulate General of Sri Lanka and Ontario Cricket Development Organization as they showcase cricket in Mississauga through the celebration of Sri Lanka's 70th Anniversary of Independence"