Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha presented credentials accrediting him as Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva to Ambassador Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Director-General, United Nations Office in Geneva on 19 July 2012.
Welcoming Ambassador Aryasinha, Director General Tokayey said Sri Lanka has a long standing relationship with the UN, and had over the years played an important role engaging with the UN’s many institutions and mechanisms. He said with more than 22 international organisations and specialised agencies and over 250 NGOs which work with the UN in Geneva, the post is challenging and has a broad mandate.
Ambassador Aryasinha, while affirming Sri Lanka's deep commitment to the UN multilateral system, expressed his firm intention to undertake a multi-faceted dialogue with the UN and its mechanisms in Geneva, including in fields such as disarmament and intellectual property where Sri Lanka has played a prominent role, as well as in the humanitarian affairs arena where Sri Lanka's experience could provide useful insights. As Sri Lanka was committed to respectful engagement with the UN system, reciprocally there was also need on the part of all of Sri Lanka's interlocutors to appreciate the difficult tasks that had been achieved by the government over the past three years since the defeating of LTTE terrorism. He said the UN system and member states, including the Human Rights Council, must follow due process and be guided by objective criteria in assessing developments in Sri Lanka, and not allow rump elements of the LTTE based overseas, some Tamil diaspora groups and others with vested interests, to ‘hijack’ multilateral processes to serve their narrow agendas.
Immediately prior to taking up his new assignment, Ambassador Aryasinha was Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU. He previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission with Ambassador rank in the Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington D.C. and in the Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi. He has served as Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1995-2000, and in 2007/2008. On leave from the Foreign Ministry, from 1993-1995 he also served as National Information Officer in the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Colombo.
Geneva
23 July 2012
