The Book 'The Valley of Gems' containing a collection of Parliamentary speeches of the late Dr. A. C. S. Hameed, veteran Parliamentarian and the first Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, was ceremonially launched at a ceremony held at the BMICH on Saturday, February 1 at 3.30 p.m.
Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs, delivered the keynote address at the ceremony. Speaking at the ceremony, Prof. Peiris noted that it was a privilege to speak on the occasion to commemorate the life and ideas of A.C.S. Hameed who had been the longest serving Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka and had a long public life. The Minister stated that he had great affection and profound respect for the late A.C.S. Hameed and recollected his early interaction with Mr. Hameed, then Minister of Higher Education and he (Prof. Peiris) was Vice Chancellor, where they had worked closely together at a turbulent period in Sri Lanka’s history and under trying circumstances. The Minister then recalled that when he entered politics in 1994, Mr. Hameed was then a distinguished member of the opposition front bench and he being a new politician, would meet at least once a month with Mr. Hameed to discuss issues and he found the late A.C.S. Hameed to be a reservoir of knowledge, on practical affairs straddling a wide range of matters.
