International Affairs

The Korea-South Asia Inter-Parliamentary Diplomacy Forum, initiated by Republic of Korea Speaker of the National Assembly Moon Hee Sang, was launched at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea on 18 July, with the intention of strengthening Inter-Parliamentary Diplomacy with the South Asian countries.

The Asahi Shimbun: An organisation that assists refugees is criticising immigration officials for singling out and discriminating against Sri Lankan nationals seeking to enter Japan by asking them if they face possible difficulties returning home.

In the wake of wide spread opposition and criticism against two defense accords and one development related agreement between the US and Sri Lanka; US clarified the present status of the accords clearing doubts of the public.

The High-Level Forum on sustainable development and the High Level Segment of Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meeting was held from 8 to 19 July at the United Nations (UN) Head Quarters in New York and this important event was attended by over 125 heads of states or their representatives and over 2,000 participants from countries with representative of development partners, academia and civil society representatives. The theme of the Forum for the year 2019 was on empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality.

The United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Sri Lanka Compact has no bearing on land ownership, administration and management in the island, US diplomatic sources said.

Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) Compact with Sri Lanka is only dealing with weak transport infrastructure and poor land administration practices and it has not intended to acquire land in the island, US diplomatic sources revealed.

Japan continues its Grant Assistance for Grass-roots Human Security Projects (GGP) in Sri Lanka providing financial assistance to non-profit, development-oriented organizations to support community development projects.

The United States wants a special forces cooperation agreement with Sri Lanka to sidestep bureaucracy and has no intention of setting up a military base in the country, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka said in a television interview, the Reuters reported.

Vice President of the World Bank for the South Asia Region Hartwig Schafer said that the multilateral agency will increase assistance to Sri Lanka under three of its new operations.

The Archbishop of Canterbury His Grace Rt. Rev. Justin Welby and Mrs. Welby are scheduled to visit Sri Lanka from the 29th – 31st August 2019.

The Special Rapporteur on the rights of freedom of association and peaceful assembly, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule began his official country visit to Sri Lanka from July 18 to 26 by calling on Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana at the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Thursday (18).

මවුවරුන් වඳ භාවයට පත් කළැයි චෝදනා එල්ල වී තිබෙන දැනට රිමාන්ඞ් භාරයේ සිටින වෛද්‍ය ෂාෆි ෂෙහාබ්දීන් වෙනුවෙන් ඇමරිකානු හියුමන් රයිට්ස් වොච් සංවිධානයේ ඉන්දීය අධ්‍යක්ෂවරිය වූ මිනක්ෂි ගංගුලි මහත්මිය ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුවට වාර්තාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත.

එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ විශේෂ නියෝජිත ක්ලෙමන්ට් නිසාලෙයිට් සොසී මෙරටට පැමිණ ඇත්තේ පාස්කු ඉරිදා ප‍්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අත්අඩංගුවට ගනු ලැබූ 2000 කට අධික තව්හිද් ජමාත් කි‍්‍රයාකාරීන් සහ කුරුණෑගල මව්වරුන් වඳභාවයට පත් කළ බව කියන වෛද්‍ය ෂාෆි පිළිබඳව විමර්ශනය කිරීමට බව හෙළිවී ඇත.

Addressing the Plenary of the Second Ministerial for Advancing Religious Freedom hosted by the US State Department on 18 July in Washington D.C., Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the US Rodney Perera, while thanking delegations present for their expression of sympathy, solidarity and support, mentioned that the people of Sri Lanka have lived side-by-side amicably irrespective of ethnic and religious differences for centuries, and that they continue to do so.

The EU Heads of Mission (HoMs) in Colombo and its Member States reiterated their strong and unequivocal opposition to capital punishment in all circumstances and in all cases.

The ‘Friends of Sri Lanka Group’ was relaunched by the newly-elected European Parliament in Strasbourg on 17 July. Group Chairman, MEP and British Conservative Geoffrey Van Orden, who founded the Friends Group in 2006 made the opening remarks. Ambassador-Designate of Sri Lanka Grace Asirwatham, who recently assumed duties in Brussels, was welcomed by the Members of Friends Group.

French Ambassador to Sri Lanka Eric Lavertu yesterday said investors from France have shown keen interest in investments related to the Hambantota port and the plantation sector.

The Japanese government will be providing Rs.420 million grant to Sri Lanka this year towards implanting the ‘Third Framework for Human Resources Development Scholarship (JDS) Programme.