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.
Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Co-operative Development paid a courtesy call on Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director General of the International Labour Organization on 16 October 2025 at the ILO Office, on the margins of the Fifth Review of the Trade Policies and Practices of Sri Lanka, which is being held from 15-17 October 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Allow me at the outset to thank the UN Network on Migration and the Permanent Mission of Ecuador for organizing this event. We are particularly pleased to participate in this dialogue, having joined the GCM Champions Initiative in March this year.
Mr. President,
Sri Lanka participated in discussions on this resolution in a spirit of open and constructive engagement, that we have demonstrated throughout in our interactions with this Council.
Minister of Justice and National Integration, Harshana Nanayakkara led the Sri Lanka delegation to the presentation of Sri Lanka’s initial Report under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance at the 29thSession of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) on 26 September 2025, in Geneva.
Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished Members of the Committee,
- It is my honour to lead the Sri Lanka delegation to this dialogue with the Committee on Enforced Disappearance and to present Sri Lanka’s Initial Report under Article 29 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
- My delegation, both present here and joining virtually from Colombo, includes members from the
Ministry of Justice and National Integration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, the Attorney General’s Department, Sri Lanka Police, the Department of Probation and Child Care Services, National Child Protection Authority, the Office on Missing Persons, the Office for Reparations, the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation, and the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva.
- Sri Lanka’s review under the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED)to be held in Geneva
- Address by His Excellency Anura Kumara Disanayaka, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka at the 80th General Assembly of the United Nations 24 September 2025
- Sri Lanka becomes a State Party to BBNJ Convention