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The Permanent Mission of
Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva and other
International Organizations in Switzerland celebrated 60
years of Independence by hosting a reception and
exhibition for the diplomatic community and senior
officials of international organizations, on 4th
February.
The Independence Day
Celebrations hosted at the UN Delegates Restaurant was
attended by Ambassadors and representatives from more
that 100 countries. The guests
were
presented with gifts of Sri Lankan tea provided by
internationally renowned Mlesna Teas of Sri Lanka. A
promotional video of Sri Lanka provided by the Tourist
Board of Sri Lanka was also exhibited, along with
posters from both the Tourist Board and Mlesna,
highlighting the diverse faces of Sri Lanka and Sri
Lankan tea.
This celebration included
an exhibition of photographs and paintings of Sri Lanka
titled “Oh Sweet Serendipity - an Artist's Journey
across the Magical Island of Sri Lanka” by the Swiss
artist Joseph Pisani who has recently returned from Sri
Lanka after a three-week tour.
Welcoming the diplomatic
community in Geneva, Ambassador Jayatilleka said:
“Good evening Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka, I thank
all of you, Excellencies, distinguished representatives
and friends, for gracing this occasion, the Sixtieth
anniversary of Sri Lanka’s achievement of independence.
I shan’t bore you with a long speech or lecture, let me
just say that Sri Lanka is at a very decisive crossroads
in its history, and this you know from the international
media. We have reasons on our Sixtieth anniversary to be
proud, we have also reasons to be pained, and we have
reasons to be purposive and persevering.
Our reasons to be proud are that we have, over these
sixty years, retained and preserved our political
independence and sovereignty. We have not allowed any
part of our country, still as our country as a whole, to
become recolonized, or satellite of anybody. We have
preserved our independence. That is no small
achievement. We have also preserved the sovereignty of
our people as manifested in our democratic system. The
system may be flawed, may be distorted, and it has come
under threat from extremisms, at both sides, both ends
of the political structure. But we have defended this
system of people’s sovereignty against all comers, when
necessary we have done so, with arms in hand. So, these
two achievements, the preservation of our national
independence and sovereignty, a popular sovereignty as
manifested in our democratic system, are things that we
are proud of.
But we are also in pain. We know that we face an
intertwining of two challenges faced by many of you in
your countries, if not now, at some earlier point of
your history. We have a cessationist war being waged.
And we have it being waged by a movement that practices
unadulterated terrorism.
Over the last two days, marking our Sixtieth
Anniversary, there were several bombings, including
suicide bombings, which were aimed at purely civilian
targets: trains, railway stations, civilian buses, even
the zoo. But none of that prevented the holding of our
Sixtieth Independence Day celebrations, the speech by
our President, march past by our armed forces. But we
are nonetheless pained that because of things that we
all have said and done or left unsaid and undone, we
have this conflict which has had a protracted nature.
But as I said, we are not merely proud, not merely
pained, we are also purposive and persevering. We are
purposive in that we shall fight and defeat this scourge
of terrorism, we shall put down the separatist
challenge, and we shall prevail. But we shall do so
while maintaining our achievements, while maintaining
our democratic system, while maintaining the sovereignty
of our people, while maintaining our national
independence. But while we are resolved to overcome
terrorism, we are also reflective. We know that we must
learn from the mistakes of the past and we must
construct a new, fairer and more just domestic order
which eliminates the roots of terrorism and separatism,
and not just combat the symptoms. Here too we are
resolved, which is why an all party representative
committee has, just a few weeks ago, presented a
proposal for provincial autonomy which our President is
committed to implement. This then is the story of Sri
Lanka at sixty. And we know that we have your
friendship, your support, and your solidarity. Thank you
very much, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.”
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Welcoming the Ambassador of Cuba
Welcoming the Ambassador of Holy
See
Welcoming the Ambassador of Brazil
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