Friends and citizens of Sri Lanka.
I speak to you at a crucial time as we grapple with many challenges that have overcome our people. These challenges are not new to me having overseen the journey our nation has undertaken in my fifty plus years of politics.
Currently Sri Lanka is facing social, economic and financial distress creating hardships to its people due to the long lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, global political imbalances and macroeconomic imbalances of the country. Although the authorities are taking measures to address the above situation of the country, including taking steps to actively manage its debt obligations, finding immediate financial assistance from other nations and progressing at the discussions with the International Monetary Fund for a comprehensive programme, the positive impacts of such measures will benefit the people only in the medium to long term. Therefore, urgent measures are needed to enhance the foreign reserve position of the country to meet its day-to-day essential imports including food, fuel and medicine.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to categorically state that Mr. Bandu Samarasinghe will not be appointed the Consul General in Milan.
The Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) is the only National University which offers a wide range of academic programmes of study through the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode.
Sri Lanka Tourism is navigating the current macro-environmental conditions in the country with great care, taking all necessary measures to ensure continuity of regular operations with minimum interruptions. In this regard a special operations unit has been set up within Sri Lanka Tourism to facilitate with all required assistance for tourists who are already in Sri Lanka and to provide accurate information for potential visitors planning visits to Sri Lanka. The unit will be a 24/7 operation that can be reached through, hotline 1912 (within Sri Lanka) or +94112426800 (outside Sri Lanka) and via email .
Due to a high increase of telephone call volumes to the Embassy recently, you may be experiencing challenges in reaching us by phone.
The Government of Sri Lanka will host the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit in Colombo in hybrid mode next week from 28-30 March 2022.