Sri Lanka’s overseas mission will be restructured so as to use the limited resources available to the government to open new mission in countries that would reflect the changing grounds situation in the world, External Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris told Parliament today.
He said the new mission would be located in countries so that the country gets the maximum advantage in its foreign relations, both economically and politically.
He said that the present Counsel General’s office in Turkey would be upgraded to a full mission while the other countries where the missions would be opened include Nigeria, Mauritania, Mauritius and Seychelles.
Sri Lanka is also looking to establish full-fledged missions in the former Soviet states known as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) including Azerbaijan. “I visited that country recently and there is a big demand there for gems particularly blue sapphires” the Minister said.
“The importance of our missions in certain countries has declined now, it is time to change the archaic system that is in place,” he said.
The Minister made these comments while winding up the two day debate on the Geneva resolution.
He said that despite India voting against Sri Lanka, the relations between the two countries remain strong. “One incident cannot damage diplomatic relations between our two countries. No bi-lateral relationship is one dimensional,” “the Minister said.
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