Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa

Address by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera

at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Memorial Lecture

Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations & Strategic Studies,

Colombo: 24 August 2015

I have the honour today, as the Chairman of the Board of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies, to speak a little about my late cabinet colleague Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar and also introduce our guest speaker, the Rt. Hon. Tony Blair.

Read more: Address by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Memorial Lecture

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera assumed duties at the Foreign Ministry today. This is his third stint at the Foreign Ministry, having been Foreign Minister for the first time between November 2005 and January 2007, and for the second time between January 2015 and August 2015.

Read more: Foreign Minister Samaraweera assumes duties

Hon. Mangala Samaraweera MP was appointed today as Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister. Taking oaths in the presence of President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat, he re-affirmed his commitment to “faithfully perform the duties and discharge the functions of the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in accordance with the Constitution”.

Read more: Mangala Samaraweera appointed as Foreign Minister

The leader of the United National Party (UNP) Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka before President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat today (21).

After Mr. Wickremesinghe took oaths as the new PM, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP), to work together in the next Parliament.

Read more: Ranil Wickremasinghe sworn in as Prime Minister

Click on the photo to listen to the statement

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called upon all partiesrepresenting the parliament to form a consensus government.

Giving a special statement at the Temple Trees a short while ago,he said that he will take oaths as the Prime Minister of the next government.

Read more: Wickremesinghe Calls On AllParties In Parliament For Government Of Broad Consensus

EU observers have given a thumbs up to the recent parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka, saying the polls were well administered but noted that campaign expenditure was exorbitant with some candidates spending over 5 lakh dollars.

Read more: EU Observers Give Thumps Up To Lankan Parliamentary Polls

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the new government in Sri Lanka under United National Front (UNF) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to make further progress on good governance, accountability and reconciliation.

Read more: UN chief congratulates new SL govt.