“Pre-judgment of the Commission’s outcome is unacceptable and unwarranted”: Response by H.E. Tamara Kunanayakam, Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva, to media queries on the Amnesty International Report on the LLRC

Claims by Amnesty International (AI) that they have analyzed the work of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) is questionable when the final report of the LLRC is due only on 15 November 2011. It is recalled that AI in a demonstration of bad faith, refused an invitation from the LLRC in October 2010, to testify before the Commission. This would have provided an opportunity to AI to obtain first hand knowledge of the workings of the LLRC.

Ambassador (Ms) Tamara Kunanayakam, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, Geneva has been unanimously elected to the position of the Chair/Rapporteur of the Working Group on the Right to Development (R2D).

Prior to her diplomatic assignment, Ms. Tamara Kunanayakam served as the Secretary to the Working Group on the Right to Development.  Ambassador Kunanayakam was nominated by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) at the organizational meeting of the Working Group on the Right to Development held on September 07, 2011, in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Working Group on the Right to Development was established by the then Commission on Human Rights (presently the Human Rights Council). The Working Group provides a platform for all the UN Members and Observer States, Inter-Governmental Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations with Economic and Social Council consultative status to effectively contribute to the Right to Development Agenda.

Spanish Translation

As the President who has participated most in the affairs of Parliament since the Executive Presidency was established, I am in Parliament today to further demonstrate by determination that there should be closer links between Parliament and the Presidency. 

From the time I was elected President I have presented all budgets in Parliament. I was able to obtain the continuous support of Parliament for the economic and development programmes presented in these budgets. I participated at the conclusion of the last budget debate to further widen the cooperation between Parliament and the State.

Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris said yesterday that it was unreasonable for the international community to expect a complete remedy for all issues in the short span of two and a half years since the Lankan conflict ended. 

Addressing the diplomatic community in Colombo he pointed out that certain other countries which have faced similar situations had taken a number of years to come up with lasting solutions to major issues.

Sri Lanka entered in to a BOT agreement with China Merchants Holdings (International) Co., Ltd, a listed flagship company of China Merchants Group on 12^th August 2011.

The total investment in the project is expected to exceed US$ 500 million and is Sri Lanka’s single largest private-sector foreign investment project. The terminal comprises a total quay length of 1,200 m and a depot land area of 58 hectares, with water depth of 18m. The project is expected to take two phases, with Phase I to be ready for operation by early 2013. Pursuant to the BOT Agreement, China International Container Terminal (CICT), the operating company, is a joint venture established between China Merchants Holdings International, Aitken Spence Plc and Sri Lanka Ports Authority for the design, construction and management of the Colombo South Terminal. China Merchant holds 55% of CICT while Aitken Spence Plc holds 30% and SLPA, 15%.  

Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs met with an 8-member delegation led by the Managing Director of Gazprom International Mr. Gulev Veleriy at the Ministry of External Affairs in Colombo.  Associated with the meeting was the Ambassador for the Russian Federation in Sri Lanka, Vladimir P. Mikhaylov.

Gazprom is one of the world’s largest energy companies.  Its major business lines are geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and marketing of hydrocarbons as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.

Sri Lanka looks forward to increasing cooperation in trade and investment from China, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in an interview with Xinhua.  

President Rajapaksa said China and Sri Lanka have seen the cooperation in many spheres, which has contributed to the regional stability and development.

 "The high level exchanges between our two governments and the other interactions in areas of mutual interest have been most useful in developing the best relations between us. In fact it will be right to say that the relations between China and Sri Lanka are at the highest levels of friendship and understanding," said the President.

Courtesy: Defence.lk

 In spanish

By David Blacker

Last week, I attended a seminar conducted by the Colombo-based Marga Institute, a think tank devoted to studying and influencing human development in Sri Lanka. Marga is in the process of putting together a review of the UN Secretary General’s advisory panel report on Sri Lanka (the well-known Darusman Report), which will analyze several aspects of this document, including its legal credibility; the manner in which it makes its allegations and narrates the series of events that made up the final stages of the war; the recommendations of the report; and, very importantly, the impact all of this will have on the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka, via accountability and restorative justice. The seminar itself was to elaborate on the thinking behind the review, discuss the draft, and possibly include the conclusions of such discussions in the final review.

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