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President meets world leaders; pullout meeting with Obama
View(s):UNITED NATIONS – President Maithripala Sirisena, who is leading a 22-member delegation to the UN General Assembly sessions, is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with six world leaders during his weeklong stay in New York.At a reception to be hosted by US President Barack Obama for visiting heads of state, President Sirisena is scheduled to have a “pullout meeting” with the American head of state.
President Sirisena and his delegation which includes Ministers Mangala Samaraweera, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Mahinda Samarasinghe and the President’s son Daham, attending the UN General Assembly sessions.
In diplomatic parlance, President Obama will find time to briefly pull himself out of the reception for a quick discussion with the Sri Lankan president during the three-hour cocktail party on Monday at the New York Palace Hotel, once owned by the Sultan of Brunei.
President Sirisena was to hold bilateral meetings with six leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and US Secretary of State John Kerry. He met Mr. Modi on Friday and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday.
Nepali Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, who was due to meet President Sirisena, has cancelled his visit to New York at the eleventh hour because of a political crisis at home. President Sirisena’s other appointments include meetings with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark, and Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma.
A highlight of his visit will be a breakfast forum featuring investment opportunities in Sri Lanka. The forum is being hosted by the Business Council for International Understanding. President Sirisena spoke to the Sunday Times during a private luncheon hosted by a Sri Lankan physician Dr Miran Salgado at his residence in Staten Island, New York.
The President said the new government’s policy for a change in the political culture in the country and freedom for the people had received increasingly wider acknowledgement among global leaders. And this was evident, “from the recognition my government and I received from several world leaders, including leaders from powerful and influential countries.”
He said he was scheduled to meet several world leaders “and I believe this is due to the recognition for the change that is occurring in Sri Lanka.” Asked about the relatively small delegation that Sri Lanka is fielding this year, he said: “Yes, you are right. My delegation is one of the smallest in the recent past.”
He said: “We are careful with public funds. By selecting a small delegation, we have shown our concern for public funds. We are not using this trip for purposes of entertainment — but really for the advancement of the country.”Besides addressing the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on Wednesday September 30, President Sirisena is also scheduled to speak at a summit meeting on the post-2015 development agenda and a meeting on “Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: a Commitment to Action.”
On Sunday afternoon, he is scheduled to visit one of largest Sri Lankan Buddhist Temples in New York. This is located in the borough of Queens. The Lankan delegation includes Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Ministers Mahinda Samarasinghe, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, D.M. Swaminathan, Northern Province Governor H.M.G.S. Palihakkara and Eastern Province Governor Austin Fernando.
The President’s motorcade was accompanied by a police escort from the New York City Police Department and the American secret service which provides security to all visiting heads of state. At the luncheon, the president savoured hoppers, pol rotis and string hoppers – while still recovering from an 18 hour jet-lagged flight from Colombo to New York. The food was catered to by Sigiri Restaurant in New Jersey