High Commission of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in the United Kingdom

Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha has called for an overarching security architecture tasked to mitigate regional security challenges in the Indian Ocean Region, giving priority to the littoral states and sensitive to the interests of all maritime users of the Indian Ocean. Observing that regional platforms only provide a legal and policy framework, which would be redundant in the absence of practical action, he called for active programmes that encourage cooperation in the fields of security and technology ensuring that people can reap the maximum out of the dynamics and synergies of the region, while supporting sustainable growth.

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 The High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in the UK Manisha Gunasekera met with the Minister of State for the Commonwealth, UN and South Asia of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK on Thursday 7^th November 2019.  The meeting entailed discussion on issues of mutual interest in Sri Lanka – UK bilateral relations and follow up on Minister Ahmad’s visit to Sri Lanka in October 2019.

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The High Commission of Sri Lanka in London held its annual Deepavali celebrations on Friday 25 October 2019 at the High Commission premises, with the attendance of faith leaders, members of parliament. councillors and other dignitaries, and a large segment of the British Sri Lankan community, including the Tamil community.

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Leading the Sri Lanka delegation to the 18^th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement, Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan on Tuesday.

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Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha has emphasized the urgent need for the development of an overarching security architecture and institutional frameworks that address the security issues in the Indian Ocean Region. Referring to the Track 1.5 Conference ‘The Indian Ocean: Defining our Future’ hosted by Sri Lanka in October 2018, which is to graduate to a Ministerial level conference, he noted that it held the promise of contributing to the development of an international rules-based order, with established rules and principles, operating on a common understanding of the challenges and solutions in the Indian Ocean region. He added that the finalization of a Work Plan at the First Meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) Maritime Safety and Security (MSS) Working Group chaired by Sri Lanka and held in Colombo in August 2019, would also allow Member states to facilitate practical coordination to ensure sustainable economic development.

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The Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution of Sri Lanka Dr. Harsha de Silva met with the Minister of State for International Trade of the Department for International Trade of the United Kingdom, Conor Burns, MP, on the sidelines of the Sri Lanka Investment Forum 2019 held on 09 October 2019 in London.  The meeting focussed on the promotion of UK – Sri Lanka bilateral trade, including means of maintaining current market access levels and preferences for Sri Lanka’s exports to the UK following post-Brexit arrangements, given the importance of the UK market for Sri Lanka.

During the visit, Minister de Silva also met with the former Secretary of State for International Development and longstanding friend of Sri Lanka The Rt. Hon. Dr. Liam Fox on 08 October 2019, and discussed issues of mutual interest.  The High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to the United Kingdom Manisha Gunasekera; Director General, Department of Commerce Nimal Karunathilake; and Minister Commerce of the High Commission Dr. Lakmini Mendis; were associated with Minster de Silva at the meetings.

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Asserting that despite many domestic priorities Sri Lanka has discharged its obligations in paying its assessments to date, the Sri Lanka delegation to the UNGA this week called on the United Nations Secretariat to utilize the available resources received from the Member States in a more effective, impartial and transparent manner, at a time when the Organization is battling its worst financial crisis leading to the implantation of austerity measures and limited operations.

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