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President Ranil Wickremesinghe with King Charles III
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| President Ranil Wickremesinghe addresses the meeting with diaspora in London
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King Charles III and President Ranil Wickremesinghe in conversation during a reception on Sunday held for dignitaries attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Wickremesinghe was among a dozen of global leaders who visited London to pay last respects to the Queen. First lady Prof. Maitri Wickramasinghe was also present.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has engaged in cordial conversation with King Charles III on the side-lines of the world leaders' reception held at Buckingham Palace on Sunday.
“World leaders who were in London to attend the State funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace on 18 September,” said the President’s Media Division yesterday.
On 17 September, President Wickremesinghe left for the UK to attend the State funeral ceremony of the late Queen Elizabeth II on Monday. It was also his first official visit overseas after taking office as the President. He was among 12 global leaders attending the Queen's funeral.
President Wickremesinghe is scheduled to return to the country today.
The statement also added that President Wickremesinghe met with the Commonwealth Secretary General Secretary General Patricia Scotland and a group of Sri Lankan expats during his visit, expressing his confidence on winning future challenges as a Commonwealth member-country under the leadership of the new King of Britain.
Many Sri Lankan businessmen, investors and professionals attended the meeting organised by the Sri Lankan High Commission in the UK.
Outlining the future plans of the Government, President Wickremesinghe called on the Sri Lankan diaspora in the UK to join the new investment opportunities in the motherland.
“As I am meeting the Commonwealth Secretary-General on Tuesday, we were talking amongst ourselves how we are going to function. We want the Commonwealth to be strong, to go ahead. The UK has been a friend and ally for a long time. We have been under the rule of the UK and we have been an independent country having relations with the UK.
“It goes back a long time. There are times we have agreed with the UK and there are times we have disagreed with the UK. So those are bonds that we have, whether it be labour or conservative or coalition, we want to maintain those relations,” the official transcript of a speech he had made at the meeting noted.
“It’s not a secret that we are all broke as a country. We have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We have already started discussions with the IMF and staff level agreement is there. We have to talk to India, China and Japan and to the private creditors. While we look at our issues of debt, we also have to repay what we have borrowed. This means we need 25 years from now to 2048. Then we will be 100, by then will be a prosperous society,” he said.
President Wickremesinghe also spoke of a proposed Diaspora Office Project.
“Around 500,000 people of Sri Lankan origin identifying themselves as first or second generation live here. We are working on a project called the Diaspora Office Project and the Foreign Ministry is working on it,” he explained.
As per him the proposed office will come under the purview of the President’s Office, but after some time it will come under the Foreign Ministry as it will take over international trade.
“We want this office to succeed. We want everyone to get involved. People of every ethnicity. See how you can help Sri Lanka,” he said.
The President's Media Office also said some parliamentarians and social media are trying to mislead the public by spreading false and incorrect information about the delegation representing Sri Lanka at the funeral ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II held at Westminster Abbey in Britain.
Based on the official invitation received for this occasion, only President's Private Secretary Sandra Perera and President's Director on International Relations Dinouk Colombage joined the official delegation along with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe. In addition, the President's official doctor attended.
First Lady Senior Professor Maithree Wickramasinghe participated the tour at her personal expense and Presidential Advisor on Climate Change and Deputy Leader of the United National Party (UNP) Ruwan Wijewardene also joined the Sri Lankan Diaspora meeting held yesterday (19) while on a private visit to the United Kingdom.
The statement also said Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agatha Kornhauser-Duda, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Indian President Draupadi, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, United States President, Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, French President Emmanuel Macron with his wife Brigitte Trogneux and many other heads of state were in attendance representing other foreign countries on this occasion.
