Addressing the 76th anniversary of National Day reception at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Brazil on 06 February 2024, Secretary for Asia and Pacific of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil Ambassador Eduardo Paes Saboia stated that President of Brazil Lula de Silva has accepted the invitation extended to him by his Sri Lankan counterpart to visit Sri Lanka. He further stated that President Lula De Silva is enthusiastic to undertake his official visit to Sri Lanka in due course.
Ambassador Eduardo Paes Saboia recalled the constructive interactions that the leaders of Sri Lanka and Brazil had in Dubai on the sidelines of COP 28 in December 2023 and there will be more opportunities to further strengthen bonds of friendship and cooperation between Sri Lanka and Brazil in the year 2024.
In his address, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Brazil Sumith Dassanayake highlighted that there is a significant elevation of relations between Sri Lanka and Brazil since holding the first round of Political Consultations in November 2022. As a result, a high-level technical team from Brazil undertook an official visit to Sri Lanka in June 2023 with a view to providing Brazilian technical assistance for the development and capacity building of Sri Lanka’s Dairy and Sugarcane industries. The relevant Agreement will be signed shortly between the Embassy and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) in Brasilia implementing the above proposal.
Ambassador Sumith Dassanayake also stated that the Embassy had a number of interactions to increase Sri Lanka’s relations with the other South American countries such as Chile, Colombia and Argentina which includes the visit of 12-member leading Ceylon Tea exporting companies to Chile in October 2023. At present Ceylon Tea is the market leader in Chile.
The Ambassador Dassanayake also noted that Sri Lanka managed the economic crisis that the country faced in 2022, very effectively. Political stability has also been restored and accordingly, Sri Lanka being one of the oldest functioning democracies in Asia, the major elections such as Presidential and the parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in due course.
Over 100 guests including Brasilia based Ambassadors, senior officials of the government of Brazil and trade chambers, political and Key opinion leaders, leading entrepreneurs, travel and tour operators, journalists and well – wishers attended the Diplomatic reception of the Embassy.
Embassy of Sri Lanka
Brazil
13 February 2024
