Press Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson
Wednesday, 27th May 2015.
Good morning friends. Thank you very much for accepting our invitation and being here this morning. This as you know, is the first briefing of this nature that this Ministry has undertaken. So this is something new to me, it’s something new to our Ministry and it is something new to all of you as well.
Transcript
I will begin by explaining the reasons for this Ministry to have initiated these regular briefings and the format that we intend to follow at these sessions and then I will also introduce myself very briefly.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs as you all know very well, is the main institution in this country that is tasked with implementing government policy on Sri Lankan relations with the International community. We acknowledge fully that the public has a right to know about what we do in this Ministry. But, all these years, we have only had the practice of communicating with you all, mainly through media releases. Apart from those, rare instances, which have been few and far between when the Minister or Deputy Minister briefed you all and interacted with you all.
For these reasons it was decided that it is time that we started interacting with you more often on a regular basis to inform you, interact with you and clarify matters. This would enable all of you to also more about us and for us to also know and learn more about your interests and interact effectively and efficiently.
So, hereafter, we intend to have these briefings on a regular basis as far as possible, every week on Wednesday mornings to share information with you on our work. This will include briefings on inward and outward visits, meetings and conferences and any other issues of importance related to the subject area that comes under the purview of this Ministry. We will also hold special briefings as and when necessary, where I will be joined by my colleagues in the Ministry depending on the area of focus. We will also follow a format which would be to first read out to you the announcements that we have to make in a particular week and then take questions from you relating to the announcements made in order to give everyone who wants to have a questions raised, an opportunity of doing so. Each individual journalist who wants to raise a question will be given an opportunity of asking one question each. Questions, will first be taken on a first, questions will be taken of a first come, first served basis.
Once questions on the announcements conclude, depending on time available, the floor will be available for other questions. Again, one per journalist.
Now, there are three things that I want to mention in this connection:
1.Our intention through these sessions is to workwith all of you closely and to interact with you and not to debate on foreign policy issues.
2.Certain information, especially regarding conversations that take place between Foreign Ministers, and at high level are of a privileged nature, as you all know. And, in order to ensure the success of some of the processes that may be underway at a given time, it would not be possible always to reveal everything that is discussed at a particular meeting.
3.I will not always have answers to all your questions. But, I will always try my best to get an answer for your questions at the earliest possible after the briefing, or answer you, depending on the nature of the question, at the briefing during the followingSo you would have to bear with me if I don’t have a ready answer to all the questions that you may have.
Now, In addition to these regular briefings, we will also continue our practice of issuing media releases and, my colleague in the Public Communications Division, Mr. Satya Rodrigo, the Director General, who I am sure all of you know, will continue to interact with you in terms of taking your questions on a day-to-day basis and helping you with other related issues. Hopefully, I think that most of the visa issues that the foreign press used to be plagued with before are no longer a problem and, matters relating to conditions necessary for you to carry out your work here in Sri Lanka are now, I am sure fairly smooth.
If any one of you need to update your contact details, you could contact Mr. Satya Rodrigo who is here. You could also collect a copy of the contact details of the Public Communication Division. The contact details have also been uploaded on our website.
Now to introduce myself. I am Mahishini Colonne and I joined the Foreign Service in 1998. Besides working in the Ministry at different times in the South Asia, SAARC and UN Divisions, I have served with Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York and have served as Deputy High Commissioner in India.
Currently, I function as the Head of the United Nations Division of the Ministry. I look forward to meeting with you and interacting with you informally after this briefing and I seek your co-operation in making these regular interactions, meaningful, for all of you and for this Ministry.
Now that we have got over the ground rules and introductions, I would like to begin our briefing today.
As you all know, the assumption of office by the new Government, following the Presidential election on the 8th of January, saw Sri Lanka begin greater interaction with the international community. An openness to engage more, increased interactions, increased dialogue and discussions, which includes listening and welcoming ideas, as well as sharing ideas, are the hallmarks that differentiate our current approach to what you may have witnessed during the time that immediately preceded.
What we have begun today, here in this Ministry, these interactions with you, is also a reflection of that openness to engage. You are aware of the high level visits that have taken place during the past 4 months, both inward and outward. I will therefore brief you on the latest visit by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera to Germany last week.
Minister Samaraweera visited Berlin at the invitation of his counterpart, the Foreign Minister of the Federal Foreign Ministry, Dr. Frank Walter Steinmeier. Minister Steinmeier had extended an invitation to Minister Samaraweera during their first meeting in Geneva on the 2nd of March.
As you know, Germany and Sri Lanka have maintained diplomatic relations for 62 years and the people of Sri Lanka have benefitted greatly from this partnership.
The meeting with the Foreign Minister covered a range of important issues, especially how Germany and Sri Lanka can work together and how Germany could assist Sri Lanka. The talks opened the pathway to further discussions, especially to explore ways in future on how to increase trade and investment.
The German Foreign Minister was keen to learn about developments in Sri Lanka since the 8th of January and Minister Samaraweera explained the steps that have been taken especially to strengthen institutions and promote reconciliation.
The German Foreign Minister hailed Sri Lanka as an important partner for Germany in the region and assured Minister Samaraweera that Germany would do all it could, to support Sri Lanka on its path of political and economic consolidation.
There were discussions on further strengthening relations in the economic sphere and what steps should be taken in future in this regard. In the coming months, the two sides will work to plan a visit by a delegation of businesspersons from Germany. All possible sectors will be explored. Sri Lanka will of course, naturally look to opportunities for investments in manufacturing as well as opportunities for job creation which is essential for the reconciliation processes success as well.
The Ministers took note that more than 100,000 German tourists had visited Sri Lanka last year and that Germany is currently the largest importer of goods from Sri Lanka within the European Union. In 2014, the trade surplus in favour of Sri Lanka added up to almost 350 million dollars.
Trademarks of Germany in this country have been the contribution to vocational training and construction of the Rantambe and Randenigala dams. Germany is now constructing a technical training institute in Kilinochchi which is expected to be completed by early next year.
Minister Samaraweera emphasized that Sri Lanka could also be seen as a "gateway” to India and Pakistan, with which Sri Lanka has Free Trade Agreements in place. The Minister also had meetings with the Vice President of the German parliament, Head of the German South Asian Group of Parliamentarians, the Committee for Economic Co-operation and Development of the German Bundestag and the Parliamentary State Secretary for Economic Co-operation and Development. He also addressed the German Council on Foreign Relations on the topic “Contours of a New Sri Lanka".
The visit also included discussions with the Friedrich –Naumann and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung foundations and exploring their return to Sri Lanka.
Going to our next topic, I am sure that most of you are interested, in learning about the new appointments to Heads of Mission posts. All non–career Heads of Mission who had held these posts before the 8th of January, except Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to India, will have vacated their post by the end of June. A new High Commissioner to India has been identified. However, the present High Commissioner will remain in New Delhi, until his successor has received agrément and is cleared by the Committee on High Posts of Parliament.
I know you would be interested in knowing who has been nominated to which posts and in which country. You all know that diplomatic practice is governed by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.For those of who may not be familiar with this, Article 4(1) of the Convention requires a State to first receive the agrément of the receiving country before a formal announcement can be made. So, until this process is completed, the Government cannot announce or comment on individual names of persons nominated to hold specific posts in different countries.
We have 63 missions overseas, this includes consulates. There are 40 vacant Heads of Mission posts for which 33 nominations are in the process of being made. This means that persons have been identified for all 33 positions and their names are in the process of being submitted for agrément to different countries. As and when agrément is received, the nominations will be announced to all of you. For those of you who are interested to know, out of the 33 persons identified for Heads of Mission posts, 17 are from the Sri Lanka Foreign Service.
Now to go on to my Next topic. I, I also want to brief you on a very sensitive matter that has been receiving media attention last week. This is on the kidnapping of a Sri Lankan national in Nigeria on the 18th of May.
We want to assure you, that the Government that includes this Ministry is in constant communication with the Nigerian Government, the High Commission of Nigeria in Colombo, and the Sri Lanka High Commission in Abuja, the family, and the employer on this matter.
The High Commission of Nigeria has assured us that "the Federal Government of Nigeria in conjunction with the security agencies is doing everything possible to ensure the safe return of the said Sri Lankan national."
So, as this is the first briefing, I will wind up. Don’t want to go on and on, making you listen to me, my voice and I will take questions, and before asking a question, I would appreciate if you could give your name and the name of your media institution, before you pose a question.
Question:
මම රිවිර පත්තරේ නුවන් සේනාරත්න. මට කියන්න පුළුවන්ද දැන් නයිජීරියාවේ තත්වය. පැහැරගත් ශ්රී ලාංකිකයාගෙන් කප්පම් මුදලක් ඉල්ලලා තියෙනවා. ඒක ගෙවීමට රජය පැත්තෙන් මොනවගේ තීරණයක්ද අරගෙන තියෙන්නේ? පවුලේ කට්ටියට කතාකරලා තියෙනවද?
Spokesperson:
පවුලේ කට්ටියට කතාකරලා තියෙනවා. ඒ වගේම රජය ඒ පුද්ගලයා රැකියාව කරන ආයතනය සමගත් සාකච්ඡාකරනවා. නමුත් මේ ප්රශ්නය සංවේදී (sensitive) ප්රශ්නයක් නිසා ඒ පිළිබදව මාධ්ය අතරින් සාකච්ඡා කිරීම ඒ පුද්ගලයාගේ ජීවිතයට අනතුරක් වීමට හැකියාවක් තිබෙන නිසා ඒසම්බන්ධව අප සාකච්ඡා කරන්න කැමති නෑ. නමුත් මම කිව්වා වගේ රජය, මේ අමාත්යාංශය නයිජීරියාවේ රජයත් ඒ පුද්ගලයා වැඩ කරන ආයතනයත් එතුමාගේ පවුලේ කට්ටිය සමගත් කිට්ටුවෙන් හැම විටකම ක්රියාකරනවා.
Question:
අපැහැදිලිය.. (Inaudible)
Spokesperson:
මට කියන්න පුළුවන් රජය හා මේ අමාත්යාංශය හැමවිටකම පවුල සමගත් අනෙක් හැම ආයතනයක් සමගත් නයිජීරියා රජය සමගත් කිට්ටුවෙන් ක්රියාකරන බව පමණයි.
Question:
Amal Jayasinghe from Agence France-Presse. This is some housekeeping matters. For example when you (inaudible) would it be available in a printed format or electronic format for. How do you propose to?
Spokesperson:
Well to be quite frank, Amal, we haven’t really given any thought to that. But, now, that you have raised it, I think we will do that. We will have a transcript made available on our Ministry website.
Question:
With your opening remarks?
Spokesperson:
Sure, including that. Yes.
Question:
Before I let anyone else speak. (Inaudible)
Spokesperson:
We will make that available.
Question:
Shihar Aneez from Reuters. Any update on this arms, arms deal with Ukraine? (Inaudible)
Spokesperson:
I am sorry, I don’t have a response to your question, right now.
Question:
I am Kugan from Thinakaran paper. Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, told parliament last March that UNHigh Commissioner for Human Rights will visit to Sri Lanka on, in, June. So, will he be here, next month and any specific date if you have please?
Spokesperson:
That’s right, Minister Samaraweera did mention in March, that the Government of Sri Lanka has extended an invitation to the High Commissioner of Human Rights to visit Sri Lanka at an early opportunity and the invitation has been extended and there have been conversations between the High Commissioner and the Minister subsequently as well, but no dates have been identified for a visit as of now.
Question:
Sulochana from Ceylon Today. We hear that there is a working group coming from UN. Are they expected on August 3 to 12th?
Spokesperson:
That’s right.
Question:
What is their mission actually? Can you brief on it?
Spokesperson:
Well, the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntarily Disappearances is a UN Committee, to which members are elected and they have been working with the Government of Sri Lanka for long years, on complaints received by the Commission of Persons who have been missing or who have disappeared. It could be, the reasons for it could be anything. It is just the fact that a person has been missing and a complaint had been brought to their attention, and then they have been working with us on trying to ascertain what has happened to this individual. This exercise has been going on for long years. In fact, since the 1990s. So it's just a continuation of this process of working together. The invitation for the working group to visit was in fact extended some time last year, but there was no agreement on the dates for a visit. So now finally we have agreed on dates. They will be visiting from the 3rd to the 12thof August and what the exact programme would be, will be shared with you in time to come. That has not been finalized yet. The programme would be agreed in consultation with the Working Group and that process has not begun yet.
Question:
Will they continue to come? I think they will have to continue to come visit on and off. Is that part of the
Spokesperson:
Well, let's wait for the first visit and see how it progresses.
Comment:
(Inaudible)
Spokesperson:
Because they visit a lot of other countries as well, so they can’t. They don’t only work on Sri Lanka.
Comment:
(Inaudible)
Spokesperson:
That’s right.
Question:
Can you enlighten us on the Chinese (inaudible) ..Especially the ... is it coming or?
Spokesperson:
Well..
Question:
is it still on hold?
Spokesperson:
Well, as you know, that does not strictly fall under the purview of this Ministry’s work. What I do know is that there is a Committee that is reviewing all projects and this project is one of them. And I believe that once the committee concludes its work, they will submit the report to the concerned authorities, and a decision will be taken. But it's not something that come under the purview of this Ministry's functions. So, I would not want to, you know, prejudge the outcome or anything of that nature.
Question:
පහුගියදවස්වලනොෆයර්සෝන් (No Fire Zone DVD) ඩී.වී.ඩීඑක Foreign Ministry එකෙන්President යවලාතිබුනාමේකලංකාවේපෙන්වන්නඅවසරගන්න. ඒසම්බන්ධවමොනවදකියන්නතියෙන්නේ?
Spokesperson:
මමදන්නතරමට Foreign Ministry එකෙන්එහෙමදෙයක්යවලානෑ.
Question:
යවලාතිබුනා (President's House).
Spokesperson:
මමදන්නතරමටනම්එහෙමදෙයක්සිද්ධවෙලානෑ.
Question:
Easwaran from the Sunday Leader. With the Human Rights Council session coming up next month, would you have a composition of the delegation that is going to attend from Sri Lanka? Is it going to be high level or low level?
Spokesperson:
September is quite far away.
Question:
No, the June session.
Spokesperson:
For the June session, there won't be any delegation from Sri Lanka. Our Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva will represent Sri Lanka at the sessions.
Question:
This is a follow up question. Has the government sorted out how it's going to address the question of you know, having a domestic inquiry? And do you know the form and shape of that inquiry?
Spokesperson:
Well, the government, as you know, President Maithripala Sirisena’s manifesto, or the 100 Day’s work programme, mentioned that the Government will initiate a domestic inquiry into any allegations of violations of human rights and humanitarian law in the country, and this is something that the government also has been discussing with the High Commissioner for Human Rights. I am sure you all know about the letter which Minister Mangala Samaraweera wrote to the High Commissioner. It has been made available publicly. This was in February, and, discussions are ongoing. On the nature of such a domestic inquiry, and no final decisions have been reached as yet. But yes, it is something that will be done.
Question:
(Inaudible)..there are talks with the Urban Development Ministry and so on. Is that project coming through? It was kept on hold for some time.
Spokesperson:
Which project is this?
Question:
Is it on now? A project to build you know houses for low income people in Colombo, that was called off and put on hold for some time. Is it on now? Is it getting off the ground?
Spokesperson:
That is not something that I am not aware of, so I would need to check on that, and I will get back to you.
Spokesperson:
Any more questions? No?
Question:
I am Dhammika from Rupavahini. I just want to know, there are some sort of issues with the fishermen between India and Sri Lanka. Is it still going on the talks? The talks between the high level talks between two parties? Between two countries on that.
Spokesperson:
As far as I am aware, there are talks that are going on and there have been several rounds of talks between the Fishermen Associations as well. This as you know is a humanitarian issue, as well, for both Indian fishermen and Sri Lankan fisherman, and it's not a problem to which a solution can be found overnight. It will need a lot of work on all sides and understanding and patience, and I can assure you that the talks are underway and they will be ongoing. If you give me one moment, I can also update you from I think, from, what I am aware there are no Sri Lankan fisherman in Indian custody right now. This is for your, if you are interested, let me find,..Yes, No Sri Lankan fisherman in Indian custody and no Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan custody either.
Question:
This is Ramakrishnan from The Hindu. Two questions. One is that there have been reports that the Fisheries Minister of the Sri Lanka government has said that his government has rejected the demands from the fishermen of India, for 63 days, as number one. And number 2, there have been requests or demands from Indian side to release the boats that are being impounded. Thank you.
Spokesperson:
On the first question, I too have seen media reports, but they are media reports and I don’t want to get into, speculation over media reports and number 02, yes, there are four Sri Lankan boats in Indian custody and 46 Indian boats in Sri Lanka custody at the moment and this is an issue that is being discussed.
Question:
You said earlier you have no comments on the Ukraine Arms deal issue. What is the real reason? What is the real reason behind that?
Spokesperson:
The reason for?
Question:
No comments...for that..
Spokesperson:
No, simply that I don't have anything to tell you, as of now. Maybe next time.
Question:
On these Chinese projects, the former government keeps saying that all these projects are being suspended or else as part of political revenge that is being taken. And, ok, maybe you can't comment on that, but, from the Government there are some also saying that we are side-lining China. How is our relationship with China and is there, are there any outgoing or incoming visits, since or in the near future?
Spokesperson:
Well, during the past four months you have seen our Foreign Minister visit China, you have seen our President visit China, so how could you say that Sri Lanka is side-lining China?
Question:
The former government is saying. The relationship is. (Inaudible).
Spokesperson:
Don't actions speak for themselves? Ok, now today, I think we have actually exceeded the limit of questions submitted by journalists.
Question:
One more question. Excuse me Mame, yes, I am Nipuna Wickramage from SLBC. Any updates regarding GSP+ concessionary?
Spokesperson:
No updates. Actually, I think it was announced after the EU- Sri Lanka Joint Commission talks as well, that Sri Lanka intends to reapply for the EU GSP + concession.
Question:
Yes, during the Minister’s visit to Germany, the issue was focused as well?
Spokesperson:
Well, Germany is only one country in EU. And, yes it was discussed and the German Government actually assured Sri Lanka that they would support us in our…
Question:
Any time frame? Or time period we can?
Spokesperson:
Well, it depends a lot on what we need to do in Sri Lanka as well. There is a lot of ground work that needs to be done and at this time I can tell you that the processes are underway. Yeah.
Question:
Thank you.
Question:
I just want to go back to some housekeeping stuff. How for example, can we establish a system where if we need something very quickly, a way for us to get a response quickly from you. And also can we follow the, apart from the MEA Twitter feed, would you also be having your own Twitter account that we can follow? In your card, is there, I understand you may not want to put your mobile phone, but is there a number that at which we can reach people, anytime of day or overnight?
Spokesperson:
Well Amal, the only reason I haven't shared my mobile number, I'm being very frank is that, this is not the only work that I am doing in the Ministry. Therefore I will not be able to take all your calls as much as I would like to.
(Inaudible)
Spokesperson:
Yes, I know, we are giving you, we have updated on our website, as I said, all the numbers of the Officers attached to the Public Communication division, including Mr. Satya Rodrigo’s mobile number and so you are free to call any of the Officers, including Satya anytime, and I do check my email very regularly. So you can even email and I will get back to you. Yes. No that new gmail is already programmed on my phone as well.
Question:
And what about the twitter?
Spokesperson:
That's something I need to think about. I know, what you want to know is whether I will be twitting apart from the Ministry Twitter account. We already have a Ministry twitter account as you know. yeah..so
Question:
For example,..(inaudible) when press releases are released, it is customary for .(inaudible)
Spokesperson:
I know, at this point in time, the Ministry twitter account twits it immediately. So whether I..
Question:
So we can have an answer to the Ukraine question next week?
Spokesperson:
I can't give you an assurance right now. But let's see. Depending on the information.
Question:
Any update, any update, the latest.
Spokesperson:
Yes, sure. Alright? Thank you very much once again and I look forward to your cooperation in making these interactions a success. Thank you.
