President arrives in New York; will address UN General Assembly today

Tuesday, 24 September 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

NEW YORK: President Mahinda Rajapaksa and First Lady Shiranthi Wickramasinghe Rajapaksa arrived in New York City Sunday afternoon. President Rajapaksa will attend the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and is scheduled to deliver his address on 24 September. The President and First Lady were welcomed by the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Dr. Palitha Kohona, the Deputy Permanent Representative Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva, staff members of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations and several members of the Sri Lankan community living in New York City.

This will be the sixth time the President will address the UNGA, the first of which was in 2006. In addition to taking part in the General Assembly, President Rajapaksa is also scheduled to hold bilateral discussions with UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon, Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma and several other leaders from countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Youth Affairs and Skills Development Dullas Alahapperuma, Monitoring MP of the Ministry of External Affairs Sajin De Vass Gunawardena, Member of Parliament Lohan Ratwatte and Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga are accompanying President Rajapaksa on this visit.