Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa

Hon. Vasantha Senanayake, State Minister of Foreign Affairs ended his five day visit to Ha Noi yesterday (02.08.2017) on his way to Manila, the Philippines to attend 24^th Asia Regional Forum (ARF) Ministerial meeting. 

The Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) of Sri Lanka has informed that as a part of ongoing effort to strengthen the integrity of the passport issuance process, the Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) has successfully introduced the mandatory collection of biometrics (fingerprint and digital face image) from passport applicants and Automated Fingerprint Identification (AFIS) checks on 15^th August 2015. The system was initially introduced for applicants applying for passports in Sri Lanka. At present, biometric data are not captured when applications are submitted through Sri Lanka Oversea Missions which has been identified as an area which could be a concern to the integrity of the passport issuance process. With the implementation of Phase II of the project, the Department has now decided to extend the system for applicants applying for passports via Sri Lanka Missions Overseas with effect from 01^st November, 2017. 

The Government of Sri Lanka condemns the firing of a ballistic missile of intercontinental range by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on 28 July 2017, and the series of recent similar hostile acts by DPRK in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions. 

H.E. the High Commissioner with the Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Canadian Foreign Minister at the 150^th  Anniversary of Confederation