News
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today (22) decided to suspend arrival of passengers from the United Kingdom with effect from today due to a new strain of COVID – 19 currently spreading across UK.
The decision was taken at the daily meeting of COVID – 19 Prevention Committee held at the Presidential Secretariat today (22) following a review of the new strain of the virus and its spread.
His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has stated that if the ecosystem is protected, the country’s water resources will become a major source of income for the country in the future. The Cardinal stated this when addressing Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena who paid a courtesy call at his official residence today (22) to offer greetings to His Eminence for the upcoming Christmas season.
In the wake of the discovery of a fast spreading new strain of Coronavirus in certain countries, the Government of Sri Lanka has decided to continue with the existing procedure of obtaining prior approval from the Foreign Ministry and the Civil Aviation Authority for all inbound travellers to Sri Lanka.
The revised guidelines on repatriation will be issued once the situation has been reappraised.
Foreign Ministry
Colombo
22 December 2020
Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena leading the Sri Lanka delegation thanked all Member States for placing their confidence in Sri Lanka when its application for the position of Vice Chair was endorsed at 20th Council of Ministers (CoM) Meeting virtually hosted by the United Arab Emirates today (17/12). Sri Lanka thereafter is expected to take over the Chair for the year 2023 to 2025.
Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena met with the British High Commissioner Sarah Hulton and Canadian High Commissioner David McKinnon, this week to discuss matters of bilateral importance.
The Minister addressed the mutual concern of security of countries, particularly in the context of the increasingly visible activities in the past few weeks by non-state actors engaged in glorification of terrorist acts of the LTTE, including suicide bombers. Serious note was taken by the envoys regarding the use of children in terrorist propaganda activities, leading to the radicalization of new generations of youth and children.
At the invitation of the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Singapore, State Minister for Regional Co-operation, Tharaka Balasuriya delivered a pre-recorded statement at ‘Switching on Cross Border Start Ups & Innovation‘, an event organized jointly by GBCDL (GB Community Development Ltd.) as a consortium partner of Asian Development Bank (ADB-SP) Global Technology Innovation Village and Singapore Polytechnic (GTiV) with the High Commission of Sri Lanka to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Singapore, on 08 December 2020.
