70th Anniversary “Treaty of Peace Japan” was remembered and broadcasted live at the Sri Lanka Mission in Tokyo
View(s):The Speech given by then Finance Minister Mr. J.R. Jayawardene on September 06, 1951 in San Francisco was commemorated with a limited Japanese VIP delegation present at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Tokyo on 06 September 2021.
The ceremony began with the national anthem followed by lighting of the traditional oil lamp and flower laying ceremony.
Major Japanese TV Channels as well as All major Print Media representatives were present to cover this event which was broadcasted live.
The event also included the reading of the original speech of late Mr. Jayawardene, a photo exhibition, video presentation about the speech and the San Francisco conference in 1951.
Former Representative from the Government of Japan on Peace-Building, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Sri Lanka Mr. Yasushi Akashi,Hon. Former Prime Minister of JapanMr. Yasuo Fukuda, andcurrent Secretary General of Japan Sri Lanka Parliamentarians’ Friendship League Madam Yuko Obuchi spoke at this remembrance event. President Jayawardene’s grandson Mr. Pradeep Jayawardene joined the programme live and spoke from Jayawardene Centre in Colombo.
Ambassador Sanjiv Gunasekara touched on the history of how this speechwas composed after much consultations and meetings with Asian countries and mentioned the case for independent Japan was first considered at the “Colombo Plan conference”.
Ambassador also spoke of Sri Lanka-Japan relationship that is built on Mutual Admiration and highlighted the shared values, culture and the practice of buddha’s teachings that is common between the people of the two countries.