The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York celebrated Sri Lanka’s 72^nd Anniversary of Independence by hosting an evening reception for a large number of foreign diplomats and representatives of the Sri Lanka Community in the tri-state area, civil society, media and artistes on 4^th February 2020 at the Mission premises.

Address by His Excellency Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka at the 72^nd Independence Day celebrations

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn met with the Minister of Foreign Relations Dinesh Gunawardena at the Foreign Ministry today for bilateral discussions. Luxembourg extended felicitations to the new Government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Minister Asselborn, who is the longest serving Foreign Minister in Europe and Dean of the European Foreign Ministers’ corps, is the first European Foreign Minister to visit Sri Lanka since the election of the new President.

Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha has said the Chinese Government is expediting the request made for a special aircraft landing in Wuhan City which will allow the evacuation of the Sri Lankan students and their family members. He said the Embassy in Beijing is in communication with the Hubei Foreign Office and Wuhan Municipality to ensure the wellbeing of the Sri Lankans in these areas, pending their repatriation.