Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama has called on the Commonwealth to move forward to evolve more practical measures to combat terrorism and draw from its wealth of experience to enhance the Commonwealth Plan of Action on Terrorism. He made this call in his intervention during the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers’ meeting held today (24th September 2008) in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Speaking further, he said that it is for this purpose that Sri Lanka had proposed at the last CHOGM in Kampala to convene a Commonwealth Ministerial Conference on Terrorism in Colombo. The Minister suggested that the meeting be held at the level of Home/Interior Ministers.

The Foreign Minister further said that terrorism continues to pose a serious threat to global peace and security by causing economic and political instability. He therefore pointed out that democracies have become especially vulnerable to terrorism in today’s world. In this context, he called on the Commonwealth Member States to explore pragmatic measures for information and intelligence gathering, capacity building of relevant national institutions, technical assistance programmes in counter terrorism. In this context, he proposed that the Commonwealth Committee on Terrorism should meet early at the working level in London, to set the pace for the proposed ministerial meeting.

While the Government is ready to implement political and constitutional solutions for the grievances of all communities, it would not and could not let LTTE terrorists to hold the Tamils of the North hostage to terror, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) today (24).

“The Government has therefore declared its policy of engaging in dialogue and discussion with the democratic leadership of the Tamil community, a people who have lived in harmony with other Sri Lankans for centuries,” he added.

Statement made by Mr. O.L. Ameerajwad, Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva, during the segment of general comments after the adoption of resolutions at the end of the 9th Session of the Human Rights Council, on 24th September 2008.

“My delegation wishes to make a general comment on the resolution L.15 adopted with consensus by the Council today on the right to food. We thank the delegation of Cuba for this important initiative. Sri Lanka has been actively supporting and cosponsoring all the initiatives undertaken thus far on this issue. 

We welcome the resolution L.15 which stresses the importance of taking measures to address the current world food crisis at the national, regional and international levels.