Several delegations congratulated Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Health, Nutrition, and Indigenous Medicine of Sri Lanka on being elected as a Vice-Chair of the Executive Board (EB) of the World Health Organization (WHO) for a term of one year during the 143rd session of the EB/WHO held in Geneva from 28-29 May 2018. Sri Lanka currently serves as a Member of the Executive Board, elected for a term of three years in May 2017.
Members of the South East Asia Region (SEAR) unanimously nominated Dr. Rajitha Senaratne to the post of Vice-Chair from SEAR.
Dr. Senaratne thanking the Executive Board on his election, emphasized the necessity of learning from the experiences of peers, while sharing Sri Lanka’s experiences with them towards achieving Universal Health Coverage, a goal agreed in the UN Development Agenda 2030.
During his participation of the 71st session of the World Health Assembly (WHA71) and the 143rd session of the Executive Board meeting (EB143) of the WHO, Sri Lanka received special compliments as a country which has taken progressive measures towards realization of SDG 3-Universal Health Coverage and launched bold initiatives on control of NCDs and access to affordable medicines.
Minister Senaratne had been invited to address the Panel Discussion – ‘Saving lives, Spending less: A Strategic Response to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)’ jointly organized by the WHO and the WHO Goodwill Ambassador for NCDs Mr. Michael Bloomberg, on the sidelines of WHA71 in recognition of Sri Lanka’s achievements in the health care sector under his stewardship.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
30 May 2018
The Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva met with President of the ICRC Mr. Peter Maurer at the ICRC Headquarters today. Referring to various measures taken by the Government of Sri Lanka to address humanitarian aspects involved in peacebuilding and reconciliation, Mr. Maurer noted the recent progress achieved in establishing and operationalizing the Office of Missing Persons (OMP).
Ambassador Azeez conveyed the appreciation of the Government of Sri Lanka for technical assistance provided by the ICRC particularly at the preparatory stages of work relating to draft policy and legal framework and structure of OMP.
Mr. Peter Maurer commended Sri Lanka for becoming a State party to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (Ottawa Treaty) and the Convention on Cluster Munitions (Oslo Treaty), which he noted “sent a positive signal regarding the range of commitments that Sri Lanka has undertaken in humanitarian disarmament”.
Ambassador Azeez said Sri Lanka looked forward to further cooperation with the ICRC on technical expertise and capacity building in areas of shared priority.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
23 May 2018
“Developing strategies to meet the emerging and disruptive technologies so as to become competitive regionally and globally is an important priority for Sri Lanka”, stated the Minister of Science, Technology and Research, Skills Development and Vocational Training and Kandyan Heritage Dr. Sarath Amunugama, participating at the 21st Session of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) held in Geneva from 14-18 May 2018.
Addressing the high level round table on “impact of rapid technological change on the achievement of sustainable development goals”, the Minister elaborated the various challenges faced by developing countries, which hindered the positive impact of rapid technological changes in achieving sustainable development goals. He underlined the need for comprehensive studies on hazards as well as on the negative impact of new and emerging technologies on industries, and stressed the importance of leveraging technologies that had the potential for increased market share and competitiveness.
“The ongoing Sri Lanka-CERN cooperation could be further enhanced by involving other technical universities including in the engineering and information technology fields in the coming years”, said Minister of Science, Technology and Research, Skills Development and Vocational Training and Kandyan Heritage Dr. Sarath Amunugama at a discussion held with Ms. Charlotte Warakaulle, Director for International Relations, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, during his visit to the CERN on 15 May 2018. Sri Lanka – CERN partnership has recorded considerable increase in the participation of doctoral candidates and physicists in critical particle physics experiments of CERN.
While commending CERN for enhanced cooperation with Sri Lanka during the past few years, the Minister emphasized the importance of the involvement of undergraduates, PhD candidates as well as scientists in CERN experiments. Ms. Warakaulle stated that such exposures would provide an important opportunity to bring back to Sri Lanka not only the much needed knowledge on particle physics but also useful insights in the latest advancements in high technology. Access to data generated in the experiments, would be extremely useful for universities to broaden their research capacities as well as for potential use in industries, she stressed.
It was agreed that collaboration would continue in the form of training for Sri Lankan physicists and students in CERN experiments as well as in various other CERN programmes such as the prestigious ‘Summer Student Programme’, paving the way for building the critical mass of scientific expertise in Sri Lanka in the field of high energy particle physics.
UN Agencies working together on cross-cutting issues such as labour and migration is vital to ensuring that benefits of such collaborative enterprises percolate to the countries in need, stated Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to United Nations in Geneva, during a meeting he had with Mr. Guy Rider, Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). He expressed the view that in each area where there is expertise available in one or more Agencies, it was important to develop ‘networking’ with the facilitation of a convener, to enable cross-fertilisation of ideas, and to improve internal cohesion across the UN system.
Acknowledging the need to break silos, DG Rider stated that the UN has undertaken a system-wide strategic plan to reform the UN Development Pillar and that it would be aligned in support of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs.
Ambassador Azeez, recalling Sri Lanka’s active engagement in enhancing and promoting the rights and welfare of the labour migrants in the Asia – GCC Corridor as the current Chair of the Abu-Dhabi Dialogue (ADD), stated that Sri Lanka would be hosting an intersessional meeting in Colombo in May 2018, where the issues being discussed would be in line with the ILO’s Decent Work Framework.
Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador A.L.A Azeez, called on the Director General of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Ambassador William Lacy Swing. The IOM Chief commended Sri Lanka’s prominent role in promoting the Agenda on Migration Health, including by co-hosting the 2nd Global Consultation on Migration Health in Colombo in February 2017. The DG appreciated the statement delivered on behalf of the Hon. Minister of Health, at the recently held International Dialogue on Migration (IDM) in New York, which acknowledged the significant role that IOM was playing in advancing the SDGs.
Highlighting IOM’s enhanced collaboration with the Government of Sri Lanka, with the undertaking of varied programmes such as post-arrival migration health, border management strategy, and support for Sri Lanka migrants abroad, Ambassador Lacy expressed satisfaction at the current level of engagement which he referred to as having “grown exponentially in the past few years”. He further complemented Sri Lanka’s Chairmanship of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue (ADD) and its long held leadership to the Colombo Process (CP), calling it “one of the most vibrant Regional Consultative Processes (RCP) of IOM”.
Welcoming Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in his office, Mr. Houlin Zhao, the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recalled his previous visits to the “beautiful country”, long before he became the ITU Secretary-General. Referring to higher social indicators that Sri Lanka has achieved including in literacy, he complimented Sri Lanka for making considerable strides in the IT Sector. It was satisfying that Sri Lanka has been placed as an important hub in regional trade and economic networks, he said.
Ambassador Azeez apprised the Secretary-General on the policy initiatives by the Government to integrate ITU as a key element in its national endeavours to realize SDGs in Sri Lanka. He stressed that through the effective implementation of SDGs, supported by advances in IT, the Government of Sri Lanka has envisioned to enhance economic and development gains for all peoples. In this context he explained the policy initiatives taken by Sri Lanka to bring ICT into ‘Sri Lanka Sustainability Strategy 2030’ which is being finalized. He also recalled the ratification by the Government of Sri Lanka of the Budapest Convention on Cyber Crimes, which demonstrated Sri Lanka’s proactive involvement in promoting ICT within the country and abroad.
Ambassador Azeez expressed Sri Lanka’s full support and cooperation in making ICT a central element in the SDGs as ITU moved forward with implementation of the UN Development Agenda. He assured the Secretary-General that ITU’s efforts in forging greater partnership among Member States leading to a successful review of implementation of the UN Development Agenda in 2020,- five years after its adoption, would help further enhance ITU’s role and standing in the International Development Community.
Sri Lanka Permanent Mission
Geneva
21 May 2018
- Statement by Sri Lanka at the 28th Special Session of the Human Rights Council on the Deteriorating Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
- The myth of inferiority attributed to women over centuries must be dispelled, Sri Lanka urges the UN Expert Forum in Geneva
- Sri Lanka says ‘In Development Dialogue, Addressing poverty and other constraints in imperative’.