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PM sends for SL’s Diplomats for a 3-day brainwashing
View(s):Sri Lanka’s High Commissioners, Ambassadors, Consuls General and Consuls have been summoned to Colombo for a meeting with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, to take place from March 31 to April 2.
The venue for the three-day conference is yet to be decided but could be in Bentota, Galle or Negombo, sources said. The meeting has been called to inform Sri Lanka’s diplomatic machinery about national priorities under the new government, and how best economic diplomacy should be advanced.
It is likely that targets will be set for each mission in the current year and beyond. Other topics on the agenda are the importance of effective outreach; diaspora relations; new and emerging forms of partnership including the US-Sri Lanka Open Government Partnership and Trans-Pacific Partnership; strategic importance of the Indian Ocean, National reconciliation and the initiatives under way to promote peace building.
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral initiative launched by the United States in 2011 to provide an international platform for domestic reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens, which Sri Lanka signed in 2015. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a trade agreement among 12 Pacific rim countries signed on February 4, 2016, in Auckland, New Zealand. Sri Lanka is exploring the possibility of joining the TPP.
Diplomats could be asked to come up with concrete proposals under all areas to be discussed and vagueness or rhetorical expressions are likely to be rejected, informed sources said. It is expected that there will be separate boardroom type meetings, where each Diplomat will make a presentation on the goals and targets, possibly before the PM’s Global Affairs Committee, which will scrutinise them.
“It has been made clear that this is not a GL Peiris-Sajin de Vass Gunawardena era ‘wine and dine’ meet, where only the duo spoke, with Sajin’s being the last word,” one of the sources held. Most Diplomats have reported they are ill-informed about what is going on in the area of reconciliation and accountability, in particular the implementation of the Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka, the sources said. This area is likely to be explored.
Another aspect of the conference is that it will bring some captains of industry in Sri Lanka to make presentations on different aspects of trade, economic and investment challenges, opportunities and strategic interest. Some academics too are likely to speak on various issues of global and regional significance.
Housekeeping matters are also likely to be taken up. For instance, a concern of most embassies and consulates is a delay in getting approval for various administrative and resource requirements from the Overseas Administration Division (OAD) of the Ministry. These include requests for replacement of stenographers, personal assistants and attaches, as well as other clerical officers who have completed their tenure.
Some areas that might not come up for discussion are the challenges that Sri Lanka faces in its relationship with India (including poaching by Indian trawlers); China’s Silk Route concept, and the Government’s recent overtures to China, as well as the perception that Sri Lanka is drifting away from Pakistan and some Middle East countries.