International CITES Conference to be held in Sri Lanka next year

The 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka next year, Presidential Secretariat said. 

CITES is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

This conference will be held once in three years and next year it will be held from 23 May to 03 June at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial International Exhibition Centre in Colombo. Representatives from 183 member countries and international organizations, NGOs, various environmental organizations and journalists from around the world will participate in this event.

CITES was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of IUCN (The World Conservation Union). The text of the Convention was finally agreed at a meeting of representatives of 80 countries in Washington, D.C., the United States of America, on 3 March 1973, and on 1 July 1975 CITES entered in force.

A special discussion regarding the preparatory works of the conference was held with the participation of Secretary to the President Udaya R. Senevirathne at the Presidential Secretariat, today (17).

Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva, John Amarathunga, Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, Secretary to the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment Anura Dissanayake, officials and the IGP participated in this discussion.