Hon. Speakers,
Hon. Members of Parliament,
distinguished guests,
ladies and gentlemen,
To begin with, I feel deeply honored and privileged to be in this wonderful city, the second biggest city of Switzerland, representing my delegation. It is a great pleasure for me to address the 151st IPU Assembly today. I wish to thank the Honorable Chairpersons and Speakers, the Honorable Members of the IPU, and the organizers of this event for their tremendous efforts in ensuring the success of this prestigious gathering. Today’s IPU Assembly provides a timely platform for strengthening cooperation among democracies.
Mr. Chair,
Madam Secretary-General,
Excellencies, Colleagues,
Sri Lanka is pleased to join this Ministerial Meeting and fully aligns with the Declaration just adopted. We thank you, Mr. Chair, for your leadership and commend the unity of our Group at this critical juncture.
Mr. President,
Madam Secretary-General of UNCTAD,
Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,
It is a great honour for Sri Lanka to speak at this important UNCTAD XVI Conference. I thank the Government and people of Switzerland for hosting us in this historic city of Geneva, where UNCTAD was born over 60 years ago.
Ambassador Suon Prasith President, Excellencies and colleagues,
We express condolences on the passing away of Her Excellency Ana Cecilia Gervasi Diaz, Ambassador of Peru.
Mr President,
Ambassador A.L. Abdul Azeez, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva recently chaired a panel at the Debt Management Conference organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This conference, which is organized every two years by the UNCTAD provides a regular forum for sharing experiences and exchanging views between Governments, international organizations, academia, the private sector, and civil society on current issues in public finance, debt management and the debt crisis prevention.
This year’s Debt Management Conference brought together senior-level national and international debt managers and experts from around the world to discuss some of the most pertinent topics in both external and domestic debt, debt management and public finance.
Being the first UN meeting to take place under Sri Lanka’s presidency following the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, the meeting provided a platform for UN officials, experts and delegates to express their strong condemnation of the dastardly attacks and to assure sympathy and support for Sri Lanka.
Addressing the opening session of the meeting, UNCTAD Deputy Secretary General Isabelle Durant, followed by many delegations, expressed their solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka against the heinous acts which led to the loss of hundreds of innocent lives and injury to many. The Deputy Secretary General assured support for Sri Lanka, within the competence of UNCTAD, to help national efforts in re-establishing the resilience of Sri Lanka's trade and economic sectors including tourism.
“Sri Lanka and other developing countries consider the work of UNCTAD critically important for capacity building and other forms of technical assistance in all areas of trade interest impacting the achievement of 2030 SDG Agenda”, stated Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, the Chairperson of the UNCTAD Trade and Development Commission concluding its 10th Session.
Highlighting the importance of UNCTAD as a forum that advances a multi-pronged strategy addressing trade and development concerns and priorities of developing nations with the cooperation and support of developed countries, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva called for further strengthening of UNCTAD and its varied programmes.
The Trade and Development Commission which commenced its deliberations on 12th November 2018 at its 10th session, ended on a confident note under Sri Lanka’s stewardship, adopting a set of Agreed Conclusions for its future focus, at a time when the multilateral trading system is under increasing strain.
A number of international and regional groups including the Group of 77, the European Union, JUSCANZ (Japan, US, Canada and New Zealand Group), and the African Union contributed to the Commission’s deliberations.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
16th November 2018