Ambassador Majintha Jayesinghe presented Credentials to Director General of the United Nations Office Ghada Fathi Waly, in Vienna (UNOV) and Executive Director of the UNODC on behalf of Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, on 25 August 2020, at the Vienna International Centre, accrediting as the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations.
The Director General commended Sri Lanka’s role in the organization’s work and praised the government’s continued support for the Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP) headquartered in Colombo which is one of the two programmes of the UNODC operating outside of Vienna. Sri Lanka reaffirmed its commitment to the UNOV and highlighted the importance of the work of the UNODC especially in the spheres of Terrorism Prevention, Trans-national Organised Crimes namely Trafficking in Persons (TiP) and Smuggling of Migrants (SoM) and Cybercrime.
The attention of Director General was drawn to Sri Lanka’s efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 Pandemic. The Director General praised Sri Lanka’s efforts and expressed the importance of sharing national experiences and best practices among Member States combating COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Permanent Representative highlighted the importance of expanding capacity building and technical cooperation programmes among the membership and expressed the necessity for effective culmination of national efforts with the work of Organization in most pressing and challenging issues.
The Director General paid special attention to ongoing Prison Management and Drug Control Programmes across the globe and ensured the Organization’s fullest support to Sri Lanka’s national efforts to curb drug menace in compliance with relevant international laws. Ambassador Majintha Jayesinghe underlined the substantive work of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force (NAHTTF), the national focal point to counter and combat SoM and TiP, National Dangerous Drug Control Board (NDDCB) and Commission to Investigate Allegations against Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) and other law enforcement authorities and reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s commitment to the Organization.
The ceremony was attended by Chief of the Regional Section, UNODC, Tullio Santini, Policy Coordination Officer, Martina Hanke, Office of the UNODC ED, Counsellor Charitha Weerasinghe and Second Secretary, Mahesh Mahakumarage of the Mission.
Embassy and Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Vienna
7 September 2020
