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FTA with Thailand to be signed on Feb 3; Thai PM guest of honour at Freedom Day event
View(s):Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Sri Lanka’s Trade Minister Nalin Fernando will sign the free trade agreement between the two countries on February 3 in Colombo.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who has been invited as the guest of honour at the 76th Independence Day celebration, will be present at the signing of the FTA. A 40-member Thai business delegation will also be arriving in Sri Lanka and will meet Sri Lanka’s business chamber representatives.
Meanwhile, the main independence event will be held at the Galle Face Green, with President Ranil Wickremesinghe presiding. More than 5,000 tri-force personnel, police, and cadets will take part in the celebrations. Special podiums and tents are now being erected.
The Army Media Spokesman, Major General Rasika Kumara, told the Sunday Times that the army would deploy 3,461 officers and soldiers.
The tri forces would hold a guard of honour, and the march would be followed by an armed mechanised column composed of armoured vehicles and tanks. The STF motorbikes too would parade, while vehicles of the electrical and mechanical engineering regiments, as well as the Chemical Biological Radiology and Nuclear Regiments, would be deployed for the mechanised column.
He added that two vehicles consisting of Army veterans and war heroes who received injuries during the war would also join the parade.
Air Force Media Director, Group Captain Dushan Wijesinghe, said 85 officers and 778 other ranks would take part in the parade.
He said that, apart from that, the Air Force would also deploy 19 aircraft for the flypast. Accordingly, seven helicopters, including the Bell 212, Bell 412, and MI 17, would perform, while four aircraft—PT6, Y12, B200, and AN32—would also take part in the flypast. Apart from that, four fighter jets of the models K8 and F7 would take part in the event.
The Navy’s Media Director, Dayan Wickremesuriya, said they would be deploying 1,009 officers and sailors to take part in the march past and the mechanised columns.
He said they would be deploying three ships in the sea adjacent to the Galle Face Green.
Police media spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa said the Galle Road would be closed for traffic from Kollupitiya Junction to Galle Face and from Ceramic Junction to Galle Face from 6 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. from January 30 to February 2. On February 3, roads would be closed from 2 p.m. until the end of the rehearsals.
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