High Commission of Sri Lanka in India

Minister of Higher Education S.B. Dissanayake who is on an official visit to India met on 28 September the Minister of Human Resource Development of India Kapil  Sibal. High Commissioner Prasad Kariyawasam was also associated at the meeting.  
 
The two Ministers discussed during their meeting bilateral cooperation in the education sector. Minister Dissanayake explained to Minister Sibal of the steps being taken by the Government of Sri Lanka for the modernization of higher education system in Sri Lanka.
 
He disclosed that beginning from 2012 the Government of Sri Lanka will offer 200 scholarships to students from Asia to study in Universities in Sri Lanka and about 40% of these scholarships would be granted to Indian students in promoting student exchange.
 
Stressing the need to revive the education facilities in the North and the East which were affected due to terrorism, Minister Dissanayake sought Indian assistance to set up a faculty of Engineering and to augment the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Jaffna. He also explored the possibility of getting prominent Indian Professors and Senior Lecturers to undertake teaching assignments at Sri Lankan Universities during their sabbatical leave. The two Ministers also discussed the possibility of training opportunities for Sri Lankan University lecturers in India.
 
With a view to agreeing on the proposed Programme of Action, Minister Dissanayake extended an invitation to Minister Sibal to visit Sri Lanka at a mutually convenient date later in the year.

‘International Humanitarian Law should reflect reality of non-state actors in conflicts’

 The entire focus of our nation, is now on building a lasting peace; healing wounds, ensuring economic prosperity and guaranteeing the rights of the whole nation to live in harmony, stated President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York today (Sep 23).

 We are pursuing a nation-wide agenda of renewal. Sri Lanka has already returned over 90% of the internally displaced persons to their original villages that were previously riddled with landmines, he further said.

 A great deal has been said by those beyond our borders about our Tamil community. Let me be clear, no nation on earth can wish Sri Lanka’s Tamil community more good fortune than Sri Lanka itself, President Rajapaksa emphasized.

Following are some highlights of the speech:

To the mis-guided few, I say, do not allow yourselves to become an instrument of division, hate and violence, to be used as an enabler for hatred to be reborn in another form. Rather come, let us join hands and break the bonds of mis-trust to rise to new horizons

Sri Lanka recognises the challenges we face, among the greatest of which is healing the wounds of the recent past. To this end, earlier this year, a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission has been established, giving full expression to the principles of accountability.

We believe that for the rebuilding and healing of our nation to succeed, the process must evolve from within.

If history has taught us one thing, it is that imposed external solutions breed resentment and ultimately fail.

Our economy is well on the way to realising the dividend of peace. We are experiencing steady and sustained growth including during the last quarter of over eight per cent, moderate inflation and low interest rates.

We certainly welcome the support of the international community as we rebuild our lands and our economy. We sincerely hope that they will be prepared to take a practical approach to developing partnerships with Sri Lanka through international trade, investment and capacity building.

Addressing a Seminar titled Rituals, Ethics and Societal Stability in the SAARC Region, held at the SAARC Cultural Centre on 23 September 2010, Acting Minister of External Affairs Hon Gitanjana Gunawardena said  that ours is a region that reflects a rich and varied plurality of cultural, linguistic, philosophical and spiritual traditions. We are, heir to a common civilizational continuum of great antiquity he added.

The Seminar was the inaugural event of the SAARC Cultural Centre in Colombo.

The full Text of Speech

I value this opportunity to be here today at the inaugural event of the SAARC Cultural Centre. I thank the Director of the SAARC Cultural Centre for inviting me and I also thank the staff of the Cultural Centre for their effort in organising this important event.

Sri Lanka has incorporated Millennium Development Goals key performance indicators in our national budget policies, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.

Speaking at the Summit of the Millennium Development Goals in New York, he pointed out that as a result Sri Lanka has already attained or is on track to attain the MDGs, despite formidable odds, including the almost thirty years of a violent terrorist movement and the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

“In terms of universal primary enrollment and completion, we had recorded a level of almost one hundred per cent (100%) by year 2007. Gender parity in primary education has reached ninety nine per cent (99%) and in secondary and tertiary enrollment, the ratio of girls to boys exceeds one hundred per cent (100%),” the President said.

Quoting from what Buddha preached in the Maha Parnibbana Sutra, President Rajapaksa expressed deep conviction that “the well-springs of our civilization, nurtured by the Buddhist tradition should guide our approach to economic and social policy making.

At the core of this, there must be a sound scale of values. Nowhere is this better expressed than in the Maha Parnibbana Sutra, the final sermon preached by Gauthama the Buddha. Here, he declares that the moral worth of any society can be assessed by a clear yard stick. This consists of the quality of treatment meted out to women and children. In building a caring and compassionate society over the centuries, we have never lost sight of this ideal.

Emphasizing the imperative need for protecting the environment, the President said, “while we strive to achieve reasonable standards in living, we must not forget the need to avoid treading heavily on the natural environment. The current spate of natural disasters around the world and frequent flood situations in countries, are a stark reminder of the effects of environmental degradation.”

President Rajapaksa urged the world leaders to treat this as urgent and reach consensus on curtailing global warming based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and the Bali Action Plan.