(UTV|COLOMBO) – Canada strongly encourages Sri Lanka to continue on the important steps taken to re-engage the country with the international community and will assist as a longstanding partner, Canada’s Envoy to Sri Lanka said.
“Sri Lanka has taken important steps to re-engage the international community and global institutions, and to expanding and diversifying its trade ties and sources of investment. Canada strongly encourages Sri Lanka and its people to continue on this path. As a longstanding partner, we will assist where we can,” Canada’s High Commissioner in Colombo David McKinnon said.
In a statement issued on the occasion of Canada Day, High Commissioner McKinnon said Canada is also drawing on their own experience as a bilingual country to support the implementation of Sri Lanka’s Official Languages Act.
“We believe that strengthening inclusion, reconciliation and the rule of law is in the interests of all Sri Lankans – we are encouraged by the initial steps taken to operationalize the Office of Missing Persons, and we continue to call on Sri Lanka to fully implement the commitments made to its own people, including through Human Rights Council resolution 30/1, to ensure a peaceful, reconciled, inclusive and prosperous Sri Lanka.”
Canada also welcomes Sri Lanka’s decision to accede to the Ottawa Treaty to ban land mines; Sri Lanka’s path from being one of the most mine affected countries in the world to one that is well on track to being mine impact free by 2020 is remarkable, and Canada is proud to be part of this effort, the High Commissioner noted.
Commenting on Sri Lanka’s engagement with the international community and global institutions, the Envoy pointed out the importance of a rules-based international order to the interests of countries like Canada and Sri Lanka.
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